| 1 | %% Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1326408790042745300 |
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| 4 | [[quoteright:350:[[ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/garfield_loses_the_contest_4259.jpg]]]] |
| 5 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Pun}} Flame]] over, little buddy.]] |
| 6 | |
| 7 | ->''"Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone." '' |
| 8 | -->-- '''King [[TropeNamers Pyrrhus]] of Epirus''' in the Battle of Asculum, his ''second'' Pyrrhic Victory against the Romans |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Few victories come without cost, but the cost of a Pyrrhic Victory is ruinous to the victor. A Pyrrhic Victory will often involve a HeroicSacrifice or people asking WasItReallyWorthIt If it happens at the end of a work, it will inevitably lead to a BittersweetEnding or even a DownerEnding (and likely InferredHolocaust). Often the implication of a LonelyAtTheTop situation, where someone gets everything he wanted, but lost everything and everyone that helped him get there. A clever enemy can use a DefensiveFeintTrap [[FailureGambit to trick an opponent into "winning" such a victory]]. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Villains are not immune to this trope either and if anything it happens to them even more often than it happens to heroes. This is often done to show how futile being evil truly is, [[BeingEvilSucks never being able to win even when you do technically win.]] It is also a good way to have a KarmaHoudini still [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty pay for their crimes in some way.]] Compare MeaninglessVillainVictory, in which whatever victory the villain had is instantly negated by some unforeseen consequence or interference. The key difference is that for Pyrrhic Victory, the villain must sacrifice or lose something they cherish in order to win, whereas in MeaninglessVillainVictory no sacrifice need be made; the victory can be nullified purely by circumstances outside of the villain's control. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | These are common in DarkerAndEdgier series and is one of the defining characteristics of a CrapsackWorld. Compare and contrast ShootTheShaggyDog. If the bad outcome of a victory is due to post-victory arrangements rather than victory itself, you may look for WonTheWarLostThePeace. When dealing with {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, this overlaps with BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu. Contrast XanatosGambit, where "losing" might benefit the planner more than outright victory. Contrast GodzillaThreshold; ''any'' victory will do, with no price too great to achieve it, and TheUnfettered are the most likely to carry it out. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | [[TropeNamers Named]] for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhus_of_Epirus King Pyrrhus of Epirus]], a Greek general who attempted to conquer Rome fairly early in its lifespan. In the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Asculum Battle of Asculum]], he defeated a Roman force and inflicted far more losses on them than he took in the process... but as he was fighting on Roman turf, [[WeHaveReserves they could rebuild their forces easily]] and he couldn't, meaning he'd burned through a good chunk of his best troops and couldn't get them back, and on top of that, the Romans had managed to burn down his camp, thus depriving him of provisions and costing him even more troops due to exposure and otherwise treatable wounds, leading to the above quote. If anything, it was noted that his early victories only served to [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry piss off the remaining Roman forces]], making them even more determined to defeat him. He was forced to withdraw from Italy, and by the time he'd returned, the Romans had built an army strong enough to kick him out permanently. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | Though based on real life events, due to massive [[Administrivia/EditWar edit warring]] in the real life section, [[Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease the section is now closed.]] Fortunately, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory there's a page with details of these battles]] on Website/{{Wikipedia}}. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | !!As this is a VictoryAndDefeat Trope and an {{Ending Trope|s}}, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]]. |
| 21 | [[noreallife]] |
| 22 | ---- |
| 23 | !!Example Subpages: |
| 24 | [[index]] |
| 25 | * PyrrhicVictory/AnimeAndManga |
| 26 | * PyrrhicVictory/FanWorks |
| 27 | * PyrrhicVictory/{{Literature}} |
| 28 | * PyrrhicVictory/LiveActionTV |
| 29 | * PyrrhicVictory/TabletopGames |
| 30 | * PyrrhicVictory/VideoGames |
| 31 | * PyrrhicVictory/WesternAnimation |
| 32 | [[/index]] |
| 33 | |
| 34 | !!Other Examples: |
| 35 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 36 | [[folder:Arts]] |
| 37 | * ''Art/MarriageALaMode'': After "winning" the DuelToTheDeath against the Earl (who instigated it), Silvertongue is tried and executed for murder. |
| 38 | [[/folder]] |
| 39 | |
| 40 | [[folder:Audio Play]] |
| 41 | * In ''Kankinkon'', the most powerful man in the setting, the Saijou family patriarch Touji, has accomplished this. He used his connections, riches, and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity good public face]] to kidnap the woman he fell in love with, force her into marriage, and then fool her family into thinking she was taken care of after hitting her head and giving him their blessing. He even received a son and heir out of the ordeal, had his family curse put to an end though the boy, and gets to have wild sex with her whenever he wants, but none of it even matters since he grew to only desire her love. [[HenpeckedHusband And he will never get it]], [[HoistByHisOwnPetard because he trapped her into the marriage in the first place.]] |
| 42 | [[/folder]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 45 | * ''ComicBook/AvengersUndercover'': Arcade laments his situation in #3. He can't outdo what in did in ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'', not to mention he's hunted by superheroes outside of Bagalia. #10 reveals he fully demanded respect he thought he earned with Murder World, only Zemo and the others chose to reward Corriander for putting the setting together in the first place. |
| 46 | * ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': |
| 47 | ** When Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} faces [[Characters/BatmanJasonTodd Jason Todd]], who forces him to [[SadisticChoice choose]] between letting Joker die or killing Jason, Batman [[TakeAThirdOption makes Jason drop his weapon and sends him into shock]] by [[ImprobableAimingSkills throwing a batarang at a pipe so it rebounds and cuts the side of Jason's neck]]. |
| 48 | --->'''Joker:''' I love it! You managed to find a way to win... and everybody still ''loses''!! |
| 49 | ** In the ''{{Elseworlds}}'' ''ComicBook/BatmanVampire'' trilogy, Batman defeats Dracula's forces at the cost of his identity as Bruce Wayne as he becomes a vampire himself, [[spoiler:with the final book in the trilogy seeing Batman killing all of his original enemies as he succumbs to his vampire instincts, forcing Commissioner Gordon and Alfred Pennyworth to sacrifice themselves to restore Batman's sanity long enough for him to destroy himself]]. |
| 50 | * Played with in ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures''[='=]s final issue with "''Fear Itself''": Joe Chill ended up in jail on an unrelated charge after shooting Thomas and Martha Wayne, meaning that the police[[note]]and Batman[[/note]] overlooked him. By the time he finds out just who he shot -- and just who the boy that he'd spared that night was -- said boy's become an "''untouchable millionaire''" long out of Chill's reach, and Chill is depicted as seeming to be living relatively scot-free[[note]]and in fact, he ''would'' have been[[/note]]... except for his ''constantly'' hallucinating the adult Bruce Wayne's face wherever he goes, spending every day day in mortal fear that someday Bruce Wayne ''will'' remember his face and finally finger him to the cops. [[spoiler:Not only do Batman and a GCPD detective both not recognize his face, Batman actually mistakenly believing Chill to be a henchman of Killer Croc's[[note]]ironically, Chill has no idea who Croc is[[/note]], but [[UnknownRival finding out his real name and his alias doesn't ring a bell either]], meaning that Joe Chill was in a hell ''entirely'' of his own making.]] |
| 51 | * ''ComicBook/{{Blacksad}}'': Faust [=LaChapelle=] from "A Silent Hell" will never be punished for his crimes while he was a SnakeOilSalesman, as everybody who could expose him is either dead or a nobody without a voice. However, Faust's guilt is also consuming him, he has alienated his own son, and is dying of cancer anyway. |
| 52 | * ''ComicBook/BlazeOfGlory'': [[PinkertonDetective Caleb Hammer]] expresses this sentiment to ComicBook/RawhideKid in the ending. Indeed, [[spoiler:half of Wonderment and the majority of the cast are now dead, so]] the reader may be left with this sensation as well. |
| 53 | * ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' ends with [[EvilInc Vought]] still up and running under a new name, but at the cost of [[spoiler: their main source of income, superheroes, being out of the picture after most of them were killed in their coup attempt against the U.S. government, Butcher leaking everything they had on them to ruin the ones that weren't, and Hughie threatening to go through with Butcher's FinalSolution should they ever overstep their bounds again. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Stillwell]], who spent the entire course of the series being an unfeeling [[TheSociopath sociopath]] willing to do anything to improve Vought's bottom line, has a VillainousBreakdown after realizing his years of scheming led to nothing.]] |
| 54 | * After ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'' ends in the death of [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]], ComicBook/IronMan actually [[InvokedTrope mentions Pyrrhus]] in ''The Confession''. Overwhelmed with guilt and grief, he ultimately concludes that the victory [[WasItReallyWorthIt was worthless]]. |
| 55 | --> "It was the right thing to do! And I was willing to get in bed with people we despised to get this done. And I knew the world favors the underdog and I would be the bad guy." |
| 56 | * ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'': The heroes beat the Anti-Monitor, but in the process the entire multiverse is lost (and this is canon). Arguably, the heroes can't be held responsible for the worlds lost before they got involved, but there were still six or seven worlds remaining when they began their counter-offensive, two of them were destroyed and the other five were collapsed into one that was almost but not quite like one of the five with a few borrowed elements from the other four. And thanks to ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'', the Anti-Monitor is back and ready to give it another go. |
| 57 | * ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': Creator/MarkWaid's first run ends with Matt Murdock exposing the Sons of the Serpent and saving a many [[ClearMyName Wrongly Accused]], but, because he revealed his identity as Daredevil, he is disbarred from practicing law in New York for perjury, which threatens his friend "Foggy" Nelson, as he's getting treatment for cancer. [[TakeAThirdOption Thankfully, he realizes he can practice law again in a state he previously did and moves to California.]] |
| 58 | * ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': In one story, Donald buys his first cell phone and tries to impress Daisy with it by calling her from ever increasing distances from Duckburg. However, each time Daisy informs him she’s already received a cell phone call from one of her friends from a greater distance away, prompting Donald to travel even further and try again. Donald is about to give up when Daisy receives a cell phone call from a friend in Australia, but then he gets [[AlienAbduction abducted by aliens]]. The story ends with Donald calling Daisy from the aliens' home planet, stating that he won but he's not happy about it. |
| 59 | * [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]]: |
| 60 | ** In ''ComicBook/EmperorDoom'', Doom succeeds in conquering the world by brainwashing everyone. By and large, he's a fairly benevolent monarch and does much to solve many of the world's problems. Unfortunately, [[VictoryIsBoring he's so bored out of his mind]] that when the one unaffected hero manages to break the spell on a few others, he lets the rebellion win. He'd rather be a conqueror than a DeskJockey. |
| 61 | ** This is a running theme with Dr. Doom; every time he manages to take control of a nation/planet, he'll spruce the place up very nicely and run it better than most governments ever manage, but will ultimately get bored of running it. Doom enjoys the challenge of taking over a nation and solving problems, not the mundane managerial work of keeping national status quo. The exception is in ''Doom 2099.'' He conquers the United States, and actually intends to keep power, so he can fix the ''entire world.'' It doesn't end well for him, the country, or most of the heroes. |
| 62 | * Occurs in ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' when Ozymandias [[spoiler:manages to pull off another massive plan to make Doctor Manhattan save both worlds by making Superman persuade the former to reset both worlds and convince that there is hope again. He succeeds in doing so, but was forced to serve a lifetime in prison in his own HQ back in the ''Watchmen'' world after being saved by Rorschach II when he got shot by The Comedian, instead of dying as a hero like he intended]]. |
| 63 | * ''ComicBook/{{Empire}}'': Golgoth wins, but it's heavily implied to be a hollow victory since he's lost everything that's important to him in the process, and it's highly unlikely that his empire will survive him. |
| 64 | * In ''ComicBook/Injustice2'' (the comic book prequel to the [[VideoGame/Injustice2 video game of the same name]]), [[Characters/BatmanRasAlGhul Ra's Al-Ghul]] manages to get rid of the corporate executives polluting the world as well as [[spoiler:successfully assassinating the President of the United States for his anti-environmental policies]] with none of the heroes being able to stop him. However, in the process [[spoiler:his animal reserve with several endangered species being devotedly guarded by Ra's gets destroyed during a battle with the superheroes, leading to their species being practically extinguished]]. He lets his enemies go because there is no more point in fighting, and makes sure to tell them whatever victory he made that day is meaningless due to the price paid before swearing to carry on the fight even more ferociously. |
| 65 | * ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' ends on this. Batman, Jim Gordon, and Harvey Dent form an alliance to take down Carmine Falcone just as Batman's familiar RoguesGallery start to appear like [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]], [[Characters/BatmanTheScarecrow The Scarecrow]], [[Characters/BatmanPoisonIvy Poison Ivy]], and [[Characters/BatmanTheRiddler The Riddler]]. Falcone's empire is brought down--but the series ends with the RoguesGallery in control, Harvey Dent has been transformed into [[Characters/BatmanTwoFace Two-Face]], one of Harvey's first acts as Two-Face is killing Falcone himself, and both Batman and Gordon wondering "WasItReallyWorthIt" |
| 66 | * In Marvel's [[ComicBook/WhatIf "What if Juggernaut killed the X-Men"]], [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Juggernaut successfully kills Xavier and the X-Men]], but he doesn't get to enjoy it because [[EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce without the X-Men to stop them, the Sentinels release a poison gas into the atmosphere]] that kills everyone but Juggernaut due to his powers, and he finds that he can't interact with people hiding in shelters because breaking in exposes them to the gas. So he's all alone in the world, forever. |
| 67 | * ''ComicBook/MonicasGang'': Frankie gave a bone to his dog, which spent most of the story trying to recover it from one adversity after another. By the time he got it back, he no longer had any teeth. |
| 68 | * ''The ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'' crossover invoked this trope by name in the last trade paperback that collected the series. [[spoiler:Virtually every major hero within the main Franchise/MarvelUniverse is forced to sacrifice themselves in order to stop the main villain, Onslaught, by giving him a physical body. The mutants present at the fight, who were unable to sacrifice themselves in the above fashion, are forced to slaughter the heroes in order to destroy Onslaught once and for all, though much of the world ended up believing that they had simply killed off a huge crowd of beloved heroes.]] |
| 69 | * The two Battles of New Xerba in ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'': |
| 70 | ** The first is one for the Evronians: they have captured the last free Xerbians and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu captured Xadhoom]] by using them as hostages, but all that means is that the device that [[SlaveLiberation reverse Coolflamization and prevents former Coolflames from being enslaved again on planetary scale]] is in the same place as [[PhysicalGoddess an entity that can power it and has all reasons to do so]], especially because by doing that the Evronians lose their hostages, leading immediately to the second. |
| 71 | ** The second ends with the Evronian Empire losing their [[PlanetSpaceship mobile homeworld]], the Emperor, most of the Imperial Council, the best and brightest of the Scientific Caste and a large chunk of their military, shattering their might... And [[PhysicalGoddess Xadhoom]] [[HeroicSacrifice becoming a star to give a new homeworld to the last survivors of her people]], meaning the one person that could stop an Evronian resurgence is gone... And, as shown in the relaunch stories, ''there are still Evronians capable of rebuilding the Empire out there''. |
| 72 | * At the end of the "Kindly Ones" arc of ''ComicBook/{{The Sandman|1989}}'', Lyta Hall, aided by the Kindly Ones, succeeds in killing Dream and avenging her son's apparent death. There's just one problem: Daniel wasn't actually dead, and for her crimes against the Dreaming, he is forced to become the new Dream, so she will never, ever get him back. And on top of that, her actions have pissed off a lot of people, leaving her with a lot of enemies. |
| 73 | * ''Comicbook/SinCity'': All victories in this series are Pyrrhic and then some. |
| 74 | * ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' |
| 75 | ** The Freedom Fighters defeat Eggman, at the cost of Princess Sally being roboticized. |
| 76 | ** A non-canon YetAnotherChristmasCarol has Robotnik taken to see the future. Robotnik has finally defeated the Freedom Fighters, but he has rendered himself the last man alive in doing so, turning Mobius into a barren wasteland. However, Robotnik doesn't grasp this and fails to learn his lesson. |
| 77 | * ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'': |
| 78 | ** In the story "Sagratamabarb", Gargamel gets into a WizardDuel with his cousin Sagratamabarb, who with his genie creates a house identical to Gargamel's right next to his. Gargamel tries to destroy the house, only to find out that his own house also suffers the same damage. Gargamel calls upon Beelzebub for his help in defeating his cousin, though he had to offer his own soul in exchange for the victory. Though Beelzebub was easily chased off by Sagratamabarb's centaur, Gargamel soldiers on and calls upon all the powers of darkness to defeat his cousin. Eventually Gargamel wins the duel, though it not only cost him his house, it also cost him his eternal soul, as Beelzebub returns at the end to drag Gargamel down to Hell with him. |
| 79 | ** The Finance Smurf from the comic book story of the same name gains the entire village after all his fellow Smurfs, including Papa Smurf, have left it behind along with all their money...only for himself to be left without anybody to share his new-found good fortune with, making him very sad and lonely. This makes Finance Smurf come to his senses and go out to find the Smurfs to tell them he's giving them back everything and abolishing the money system. |
| 80 | * ''ComicBook/StarWarsKanan'': Discussed. When Caleb is subjected to his first death—the death of his friend Stance—by Colonel Sear, he realizes for the first time in his life that he [[GainingTheWillToKill wants to kill]]. During the fight, however, he realizes that it would just lead more death and isn't worth it. He spares Sear, though Sear ends up committing suicide anyway and Caleb considers it his first blood. |
| 81 | * In the ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/LastDaughterOfKrypton'', Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}} defeated [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Simon Tycho]]'s private army, beat him up, got her stolen [[DataCrystal Sunstone]] back and blew his space base up. As for Simon Tycho himself, he lost the lower half of his body because of the explosion. Still, because he got a sample of Supergirl's blood completely by accident, he thinks he came out on top. |
| 82 | * In ''ComicBook/SupermanSpaceAge'', Lex cements his victory over Batman, Wayne Enterprises, and the world the day the world ends. To add insult to injury, the fact that he refused Superman's DNA extraction means nothing of him remains on the new Earth. |
| 83 | * ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' ended with [[spoiler:Ozymandias]] stopping World War III by creating a fake extraterrestrial monster and siccing it on New York, killing millions and forcing the US and Russia into a [[TeethClenchedTeamwork tenuous alliance]]. [[spoiler:Ozymandias]] however will be haunted forever by the lives he took to ensure peace. However, a clue [[spoiler:Rorschach left before he died]] might unravel the whole thing in any moment so [[spoiler:Ozymandias']] scheme might come to nothing. |
| 84 | * ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Diana wins her duel against Medusa but everyone Medusa killed is still dead and Diana is blinded. Highlighted by how Di sinks to her knees holding her badly wounded side immediately after killing the gorgon and says a simple unenthusiastic ''"I win."'' |
| 85 | * ''The Adventures of the ComicBook/XMen'' manages to give both the heroes ''and'' villains a Pyrrhic Victory. On the heroes' side, they were unable to stop the destruction of the multiverse, but [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey]] managed to use her psychic powers to foil the Dweller in Darkness' plan to use this opportunity to feed on the fear of all lifeforms in the multiverse by telepathically encouraging them to FaceDeathWithDignity. Likewise, the Dweller succeeded in destabilizing the multiverse, but did not benefit from it as he had planned due to Jean's aforementioned actions. The only one who got a clear victory out of that was [[SycophanticServant D'Spayre]], who seized the opportunity to [[spoiler: feed on his master's despair over his failed plan and gave the Dweller a much-deserved KarmicDeath]]. |
| 86 | * ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMegaseries'' has the end of the Great War. By ''The Death of Optimus Prime'', the Decepticons had lost, and badly: their infrastructure broken, [[TheRemnant their remaining forces scattered through the cosmos]], most of their leaders under watch or simply gone, and the Autobots firmly in control of Cybertron. But the Autobots themselves had also lost almost all their outlying territories, and millennia of war had made them pariahs among the rest of the galaxy and even much of the non-aligned population. Much of the series deals with the fact that, while they did manage to take Cybertron, they don't have the manpower to hold it, and they end up handing control of it to a civilian government while moving operations to Earth. |
| 87 | [[/folder]] |
| 88 | |
| 89 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 90 | * ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': In one story arc, Calvin attempts to weasel out of having to do a writing assignment for school by using time travel to get it in the future when it's already written. It doesn't end up working out, because in order for the assignment to exist in the future he had to have written it in the past (which he did not do), but the past and future Hobbeses together, realizing in advance Calvin's scheme won't work, write up a story themselves and give it to Calvin, [[DespiteThePlan so he still gets out of having to write a story himself in the end]] ''and'' he gets an excellent grade for it as a bonus. Unfortunately, when Calvin presents the story the next day, he finds it's an ''insulting'' story about how much of a useless idiot he is for using time travel to weasel out of doing his homework, and which, according to Calvin, turned him into the laughingstock of the class. |
| 91 | * Jason in ''ComicStrip/{{Foxtrot}}'' often purposely fools his siblings into "winning" bets that are this. |
| 92 | ** In one HorribleCampingTrip, Jason bets Peter a dollar he can't hit a tree with a hatchet. Peter takes that bet, and hits it perfectly. When Andy is angrily chewing him out for doing something so dangerous, Jason considers the show a dollar well-spent. |
| 93 | ** On one Thanksgiving, he bets Peter a dollar he can eat more than him. He eats two helpings and calls it quits; Peter eats 27 platefuls before even checking the score, eventually passing out without closing his eyes. Again, where else could Jason have gotten so much fun for a dollar? |
| 94 | ** It happens to Jason himself when he bets Marcus fifty cents that he can write a longer essay. His thousand page essay easily trumps Marcus' 500-page one, but while Marcus gets an A on the essay, Jason, for all his work, gets a D, and fifty cents. (And he doesn't learn a thing afterwards.) |
| 95 | * ''{{ComicStrip/Garfield}}'' |
| 96 | ** [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1986/10/05 In this strip, Garfield resists Jon's attempts to force him to exercise]]. Jon still succeeded in dragging him around, and even repeatedly [[BlackComedyAnimalCruelty smashed Garfield's head into a table multiple times]], but then Jon gives up and declares Garfield won. Garfield actually agrees he won, but it's an empty victory. |
| 97 | --->'''Garfield''': An empty victory. But a victory none the less. |
| 98 | ** A strip from [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1993/11/07 November 07th, 1993]] has Garfield and Jon both beat the complete bejesus out of each other over the last muffin. Garfield manages to win, but only takes a single bite. |
| 99 | ---> '''Garfield:''' [[DoesNotLikeSpam Yuck! The last]] '''[[DoesNotLikeSpam raisin]]''' [[DoesNotLikeSpam muffin!]] |
| 100 | ** A [[http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2000/09/17 September 17th, 2000]] strip has Garfield and Jon challenge each other to a hot pepper contest. Garfield [[FireBreathingDiner could not handle the Peruvian Death Pepper and releases flames]], so he declares Jon the winner. All Jon got from it was an AshFace. |
| 101 | * A minor example in ''ComicStrip/{{Retail}}'' occurred when Josh, the assistant manager for Grumbel's, lied about getting a job offer from a competing store in order to secure a raise. He initially got away with it...until Marla (the store manager) found out about it, and proceeded to tell Stuart, their district manager who was formerly Josh's supporter. No longer having Stuart's protection, and with Marla planning to fire him, Josh quickly got himself a new job and quit. |
| 102 | [[/folder]] |
| 103 | |
| 104 | [[folder:Films — Animation]] |
| 105 | * In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'', Batman manages to stop the Red Hood[[spoiler:/Jason and save the Joker's life,]] but as the Joker points out, all Batman did was make it so that ''no one'' got what they wanted and [[DownerEnding nothing has changed.]] |
| 106 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheBoxtrolls'', Snatcher does get a white hat, and he does taste cheese in the tasting room in the end. That tasted-cheese causes his allergy (along with the rest of his built-up allergic reaction) to do him in. |
| 107 | * In ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'', the Piston Cup comes down to a three-way contest between hero Lightning [=McQueen=], BigBad Chick Hicks, and defending champion Strip Weathers, who is planning to retire after this race. Hicks cheats and causes Weathers to wreck out, which in turn causes Lightning, in the lead, to drop out to help Weathers at least finish his last race. As a result, Hicks actually wins, with Weathers in second place and Lightning in third, but he accepts the trophy to a throng of boos and thrown objects, including from his own pit crew, now revealed as a cheater to the world. It also costs him a coveted sponsorship deal with Dinoco (the company that sponsored Weathers and was searching for a new racer following his retirement) who instead offer a deal to [=McQueen=] for his sportsmanship despite losing the race. |
| 108 | * ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDarkApokolipsWar'' ends with the heroes finally defeating [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] once and for all -- but many of their ranks are dead, many of those still alive are mutilated cyborgs, Nightwing is insane because of his death and resurrection, and Darkseid managed to cause irreversible damage to the Earth. The only sure way to fix things is for the Flash to cause a CosmicRetcon to reboot the whole universe. |
| 109 | * The [[RevisedEnding Alternate Ending]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' was one of these for Scar. He beats Simba and throws him off Pride Rock but unknowingly saved Simba's life in the process, as the fires engulf Pride Rock, killing Scar. All Scar's 'victory' did was result in killing himself and allowing Simba to become king. At that point, however, he probably didn't care, seeing how he was also laughing as he was burning up. |
| 110 | * ''WesternAnimation/TadTheLostExplorer'': A band of mercenaries called Odysseus led by the intimidating Kopponen seek the Idol of Paititi to gain immortality. However, [[spoiler: seemingly acclaimed archeologist Max Mordon]] also turns out to be a mercenary seeking the same relic and is Kopponen's boss. [[spoiler:Mordon]] actually succeeds in obtaining the idol...but turns out the idol only grants immortality to those who hold it by [[spoiler: [[BlessedWithSuck turning them into mummies]]! Thus, he is transformed into a living mummy and sent to the Mummy prison for all eternity]]. |
| 111 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'' |
| 112 | ** Although the Autobots manage to repel the Decepticon threat (with Megatron mortally wounded), [[BigGood Optimus Prime]] loses his life in the Battle of Autobot City, as do several other named Autobots. The Decepticon casualties, meanwhile, end up being zero thanks to [[BigBad Unicron]] reformatting Megatron and the other dying Decepticons into Galvatron and his minions, who swiftly attack the city again, forcing the surviving Autobots to flee. |
| 113 | ** Galvatron himself runs afoul of this, setting off the FinalBattle in the process. He manages to dismember Ultra Magnus (he gets better) and retrieve the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, but instead of handing it over to Unicron to be destroyed, he attempts to use it to destroy him instead. Of course, it's called the ''Autobot'' Matrix of Leadership for a reason, so he fails and is forced to watch Unicron begin laying into Cybertron before the Chaos Bringer devours him whole for his insolence. |
| 114 | * In ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', Ralph gets the medal he wanted and returns to his own game, after [[spoiler:destroying Vanellope's racecar to prevent her from racing]]. There finds out that [[spoiler:[[TheHero Fix-It Felix]] has left trying to find him and has yet to return, and their game is about to be unplugged]]. So, Ralph's won a medal, [[spoiler:broke a little girl's heart, and has the key to a Penthouse suite he was told he'd never get in a game about to be unplugged..]]. [[spoiler:Though he DOES set everything right in the end.]] |
| 115 | * In the climax of ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc1'', [[WellIntentionedExtremist Waternoose's plan to enslave children for their screams to keep Monsters, Inc., going and end the energy crisis]] is [[EngineeredPublicConfession exposed for all to see]], leading to his arrest. But as he is lead out, [[WhatTheHellHero he warns Sully]] that by trying to keep Boo safe and get her home safely, he has destroyed Monsters, Inc., which no longer has any more screams, and thus doomed Monstropolis to a state of permanent blackout. And indeed, later, all the monsters in the building are standing outside with the company seemingly out of business, and even Sully is worried that his good intentions have cost him his job. Mike tries to cheer him up. |
| 116 | -->'''Mike:''' Hey, you all right? Come on, pal, cheer up, we did it! We got Boo home! Sure, we put the company in the toilet, and, gee, hundreds of people will be out of work now. Not to mention [[TorchesAndPitchforks the angry mob]] that'll come after us [[InferredHolocaust when there's no more power]], but hey... at least we had some laughs, right? |
| 117 | ** [[spoiler:Things get better, however, [[EurekaMoment when Sully remembers right then that laughter is just as effective a power source as screams]]. In fact, laughter proves even more effective than screams, so things work out for the best after all.]] |
| 118 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Mei succeeds in defeating her mother in the climax however [[spoiler: Ming's massive kaiju body is not in the ritual circle, Mei is not strong enough to pull her into it and time is running out to perform the ritual to save her]]. [[spoiler: Fortunately, Mei's other female relatives help her pull Ming into the circle in time.]] |
| 119 | [[/folder]] |
| 120 | |
| 121 | [[folder:Films — Live-Action]] |
| 122 | * By the end of ''Film/ThreeHundred'', Xerxes has lost most of his best troops and although he's defeated Leonidas at Thermopylae, the performance of the Spartans and the losses inflicted among his men has only given new determination and inspiration to the other Greeks. Historically speaking this was only a minor setback for the Persians, but other Greeks counterattacked and forced the Persians to leave the country; therefore Xerxes won the battle but lost the war because the choke point of Thermopylae bought the other Greeks enough time to mass for their counterattack. |
| 123 | * ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'': On paper, [[spoiler:[[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] succeeds in getting Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} killed thanks to Doomsday]]. However, [[spoiler:he ends up in jail as a result, Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} is keeping an eye on him and will work with Characters/{{Wonder Woman|TheCharacter}} on starting the Justice League, Superman is now remembered by everyone as a hero and will come back]]. |
| 124 | * Gillo Pontecorvo's ''Burn!'', set on a fictional Portuguese colony in the Caribbean. The protagonist, English adventurer William Walker, incites a slave uprising to secure the island for British sugar interests. When the slaves continue fighting against the British-backed government, Walker returns with British troops to crush them... destroying most of the island's sugar crop in the process. [[spoiler:Walker eventually succeeds, but destroys the island's cash crop and is killed himself.]] |
| 125 | * ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'': While Frank is able to continually evade the FBI and get rich off his cons, this comes at the cost of him being almost permanently estranged from his family and being unable to form close relationships with anyone for fear of them discovering his deceit. The psychological pressure of continuing a life of crime eventually causes him to crack and turn himself in. |
| 126 | * At the end of ''Film/ChildsPlay2'', Chucky is vanquished but the heroes (Andy and Kyle) now realize they don't have a home to go to because of Chucky's rampage. The alternate ending makes this an even more blatant example by having Chucky get resurrected immediately. |
| 127 | * ''Film/ConAir'' ends this way for Vince Larkin. The remaining escaped convicts are dead or recaptured but the plane crashed into the Las Vegas strip. Larkin is sure that his career is going to take a hit. But, looking at Poe being reunited with his family, Larkin knows that it's all worth it. |
| 128 | * ''Film/CountYorga'': |
| 129 | ** In the first film, Micheal manages to kill Yorga. But by then Paul and Michael are dead, Erica was fully drained and turned and lives on as a vampire [[spoiler:and his girlfriend Donna, was turned before he can reach her. Once he chases off Erica and an unnamed bride, Donna promptly attacks and kills him]]. |
| 130 | ** In the second film, Baldwin manages to save Cynthia from Yorga's clutches and Cynthia regains her memories of Yorga's brides attacking her family to which she personally deals the fatal blow that kills him. But father, mother and mute maid are dead, her sister Ellen and Mitzi, a girlfriend of one of their friends, are among the ranks of the undead [[spoiler:and Baldwin himself is turned when he himself was cornered by the brides. Not long after Yorga dies, Baldwin turns and swiftly bites Cynthia. The film implying he's now the new head vampire]]. |
| 131 | * ''Film/CSATheConfederateStatesOfAmerica'': By the early 21st century, the CSA has maintained chattel slavery of Africans, revived the international slave trade, and shows no sign of slowing down. However, every other major country (except South Africa) maintains sanctions against it, and its oppressive "morality" laws and CulturePolice have driven cultural icons into exile in Canada, with its only art being government propaganda. At the end of the film, it is stated that the stubborn adherence to slavery is weakening the country's economy, and it will eventually fall. |
| 132 | * ''Film/DirtyPictures'' is based on the real life trial of museum director Dennis Barrie, who was tried in 1990 for pornography on account of works he displayed by photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Barrie was acquitted, but for the next two years the George H.W. Bush administration further cut funding to the arts, while the trial had a chilling effect on other museum directors for the next several years. Barrie himself is a Republican, and was played by staunch right-winger Creator/JamesWoods in the film. |
| 133 | * ''Film/TheFavourite'': Abigail succeeds in supplanting Sarah as the RoyalFavorite and exiling her, securing a lofty position for herself. Too bad the lifestyle is actually pretty boring, having to care for an increasingly senile Queen Anne. Also, Anne discovers (too late) how duplicitous Abigail really is and will never trust her as much as Sarah. |
| 134 | * Colonel Nathan Jessup from ''Film/AFewGoodMen'' is accused of manslaughter after carelessly ordering a hazing which killed one of his men. He instead admits that he knew the consequences of his orders. He saved his reputation but he is going to prison for the rest of his life for a crime that doesn't exist. |
| 135 | * Michael Corleone might be the ultimate example of this by the end of ''Film/TheGodfather'' movies. |
| 136 | ** [[Film/TheGodfather Part 1]]: Certainly he's destroyed every major underworld power in his way but at the cost of his soul. |
| 137 | ** [[Film/TheGodfatherPartII Part 2]]: Again he destroys his enemies and takes on the US government and wins, but he's also destroyed his marriage, alienated his children and friends, killed his brother, and is left utterly alone. |
| 138 | ** [[Film/TheGodfatherPartIII Part 3]]: He passes leadership of the family but fails to legitimize it, his daughter is killed right in front of him and finally he dies alone and unhappy. |
| 139 | * ''Film/Godzilla1954'': Godzilla is finally killed in Tokyo Bay via Dr. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer. However, his rampage has left Tokyo in a smoldering, irradiated ruin, with tens of thousands dead, and Serizawa committed a HeroicSacrifice by dying with Godzilla, while also burning all of his research on the Oxygen Destroyer so that no one else can recreate it. Tellingly, the celebration of Godzilla's defeat is markedly brief, and the film ends with Dr. Yamane's somber declaration that if humans continue the testing and use of nuclear weapons, another Godzilla will appear. And the deployment of the Oxygen Destroyer would have far-reaching ramifications over 40 years later: the revival and mutation of Precambrian crustaceans living in Tokyo Bay, leading to the creation of [[spoiler:Destoroyah.]] |
| 140 | * ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'': [[Characters/MiddleEarthFilmSauronsEvilForces Azog]] actually succeeds in [[spoiler:wiping out Thorin's bloodline]], but he himself expires a few minutes before [[spoiler:Thorin]] after they fatally injure each-other in a MutualKill. |
| 141 | * In ''Film/HouseOfFlyingDaggers'', TheMole for LaResistance accomplishes his mission to perfection, but loses the ActionGirl he loves, and [[IfICantHaveYou later kills her]] while fighting TheRival who had won her love. He ends the film a broken shell of a man. |
| 142 | * In ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjayPart1'', Katniss warns Snow about this, stating "if we burn, you burn with us." Snow even acknowledges the fact that the Capitol needs the Districts to survive. That said, if it's a choice between capitulation and domination, Snow proves more than willing to slaughter as many people as it takes to stay in power. |
| 143 | * ''Film/TheIrishman'': [[spoiler: You're a big bad, feared hitman, Frank Sheeran? You kept your mouth shut like a good mafioso and did your time in the slammer? Where's it gotten you? All your friends are dead, some at your own hand. Your family despises you and won't have anything to do with you. You're alone, forced to plan your own funeral because nobody else cares. The world's moved on and forgotten you, leaving you stuck in a nursing home to waste away slowly till death claims you. WasItReallyWorthIt]] |
| 144 | * ''Film/JingleJangleAChristmasJourney:'' Brings us Gustafson. He worked under Jeronicus Jangle, the greatest inventor of all time and even came up with an invention of his own that he begs Jeronicus to just look at for a moment due to the fact it never functioned properly. Jeronicus is dismissive and seems more preoccupied with spending Christmas with his family as well as working on a groundbreaking invention. After a little goading, Gustafson steals Jeronicus' book of inventions and uses it to become a famous toymaker leaving Jeronicus broken and destitute. Once out of stolen ideas, he returns to his one original invention only for it to fail miserably and prompt him to try stealing something else from Jeronicus. His efforts are thwarted but as he's being led away by the police, Jeronicus insists on giving him a gift: The part he needed for his invention to work. The nail is further driven in when its revealed that Jeronicus planned to surprise Gustafson with it the night he left. Gustafson is left dumfounded and can only manage a long last look before being taken to jail. |
| 145 | * Franchise/JurassicPark: |
| 146 | ** ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'': [[GreatWhiteHunter Roland Tembo]] only agreed to come on [=InGen=]'s dinosaur poaching expedition for the permission to bag the greatest predator that ever lived, an adult bull ''Tyrannosaurus rex''. In the end, he ''actually manages to do it'', and alive at that, but his longtime friend, Ajay, was killed on the expedition, so he didn't get any satisfaction from it. |
| 147 | ** ''Film/JurassicWorld'': Owen, Claire, and the boys survive and the ''Indominus'' is killed, but the park is in ruins, three of Owen's ''Velociraptors'' are dead, and Jurassic World will never reopen due to all of the chaos, destruction, and death caused by the ''Indominus's'' rampage. |
| 148 | ** ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'': Owen and Claire manage to put an end to Wu's latest creation, the ''Indoraptor'', but thanks to a double-cross by Eli Mills, many of the dinosaurs they were trying to save from a fiery death on Isla Nublar when it erupted get released on the mainland and the ones that aren't are sold around the world on the black market. And it's implied that Wu will continue to clone more dinosaurs since he still has the DNA samples of several species. |
| 149 | * ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'': Valentine sought to save the world by eliminating pretty much its entire population using a HatePlague to kill each other, save for a few individuals that willingly sided with him. In a sense, he gets what he wants since people die during the ensuing chaos (though not all of them), but also the world leaders that denied climate change and only cared about staying in power. The problem is that all his collaborators were killed off by [[MissionControl Merlin]], and he gets killed by [[TheHero Eggsy]] at the end. |
| 150 | * On its continuation ''Film/KingsmanTheGoldenCircle'', Poppy Adams' plan to hold the millions of people that have ever taken drugs legally or not (or had been affected biologically by drugs, such as kids that had their parents taking drugs while they were in the womb) around the world hostage with her virus, in exchange for having all recreational drugs legalized in the U.S., hits a bit of a snag on its execution: [[spoiler:The [[PresidentEvil President of the United States]] turns out to be a KnightTemplar and decides it would be better to let those millions die and declare himself the ''de facto'' winner of the War On Drugs. If not for the Kingsmen managing to StormTheCastle and get the antidote, the result would have been Adams going down in history as the architect of a world-wide genocide and the complete annihilation of her monetary base. For added irony, she dies without knowing this.]] |
| 151 | * ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'': In the end, [[spoiler:[[Characters/MiddleEarthFilmIndependentVillains Gollum]] is finally able to reunite with his Precious, the One Ring, upon forcibly taking it from Frodo]]. Less than a minute later, he falls to his death into the fires of Mount Doom. |
| 152 | * In ''Film/LordOfWar'', VillainProtagonist and ArmsDealer Yuri Orlov manages to evade the law and escape a long stay in prison to continue his gunrunning. However, this comes at the cost of his brother and uncle being killed, his parents disowning him, and his one true love divorcing him and taking his only son with her. He was also released only due to being useful to the U.S. Government and he's fully aware they can have him [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness disposed of if his usefulness ceases]].[[note]]Such as if the political liability of retaining him finally overrides the ''de facto'' benefit of his services.[[/note]] This is hammered home when the Interpol agent chasing Yuri says that normally he'd tell Yuri to go to Hell, but he thinks that Yuri's already there. |
| 153 | * ''Film/{{Mandalay}}'': At one point, Tony seems to have offed himself. However, the police suspect Tanya, his girlfriend, of murdering him, so she's arrested and is probably going to be deported to Russia (she's a refugee) -- something she successfully avoided before. |
| 154 | * Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: |
| 155 | ** Referenced by Tony Stark to threaten Loki during the events of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''. He points out that a major flaw in Loki's plan is how it involved [[ItsPersonal making things personal]] with quite literally every force on the planet capable of stopping him, effectively uniting them and steeling their resolve against him, and thus even if Loki "wins" it'll be one of these at best since he'll have nothing to show for it. |
| 156 | --->'''Tony Stark:''' You're missing the point. There's no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes, and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it. |
| 157 | ** At the end of ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', [[spoiler:[[TheBadGuyWins Thanos has won]]. He's completed the Infinity Gauntlet and wiped out half of all life in the universe, crippling both the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. But it costs him ''everything''; his children, his army, his morals, and even his Gauntlet that he fought so hard to get, which burns out from overuse. With everything he lived for gone, he simply goes to a farm on another planet and watches the sunset; it's hard to tell if he's relieved and content, or utterly broken by everything he's done]]. |
| 158 | ** ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' has this done for the heroes when they finally brought down the Mad Titan [[spoiler:on the first instance. The heroes have successfully ambushed Thanos and disarm him, preventing the use of the Infinity Stones, only to find out that Thanos has destroyed the stones, preventing them from undoing his erasure. Even after Thor decapitates him, the damage is done and the heroes are forced to pick up the pieces and live on without their loved ones]]. |
| 159 | ** In ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', [[spoiler:Mysterio succeeds in being known as a great hero, one he engineered for himself via a MonsterProtectionRacket that took many lives. He even defames Spider-Man by revealing his SecretIdentity to the world, and tarnishes Tony Stark's legacy in the process which ultimately led to Peter being alone and forgotten from the rest of the world. The catch is that all of this could only be done ''posthumously'', as he died in the final battle when [[SelfDisposingVillain his own arrogance]] got him shot in the crossfire between Spider-Man and his drones.]] |
| 160 | ** ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'': Peter Parker [[spoiler:manages to destroy the SuperpoweredEvilSide of Norman Osborn as well as depower Electro, Sandman, and the Lizard. However, as his identity being known in the entire multiverse is so grave a threat that Peter has to erase himself from his universes' people's minds in order for Doctor Strange to seal holes in the time-space continuum. When all is said and done, no one remembers Peter Parker.]] |
| 161 | * The film adaptation of ''Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress2017'' seems to take this on, more so than other adaptations. While Ratchett/Casetti deserved what happened to him and [[spoiler: his murderers get away scot-free from the crime]], it is seen to be more of a solemn victory afterwards, as [[spoiler: all his murderers]] appears to be disturbed afterwards and will carry the knowledge of his murder [[spoiler: for the rest of their lives]], justified or not. And regardless of Casetti's death, it would not bring back [[spoiler: any of the loved ones they had lost or undo the damage he directly and indirectly caused in their lives.]] |
| 162 | * ''Film/TheNightFlier'': Dwight Renfield escapes in his airplane after slaughtering dozens of people, with all his crimes being pinned on Richard Dees. However, he did not want Dees to die in the process, and Dwight actually hates his own existence as a bloodsucking fiend. |
| 163 | * The [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon title character]] in ''Film/{{Nixon}}'' manages to become President using lies, dirty tricks and [[DealWithTheDevil backroom deals with big business and government officials]]... yet can't enjoy his Presidency, because he's too busy trying to destroy his enemies. Arguably TruthInTelevision: after his 1972 election, where Nixon won 49 of 50 states, Nixon complained that he didn't win ''enough'' votes and immediately fired half of his staff. |
| 164 | * By the end of ''Film/PatGarrettAndBillyTheKid'', it's clear that Garrett realizes that he will lead a conflicted, unhappy life and will be chiefly remembered for killing his friend. Billy, meanwhile, will have most of his bits of sociopathy forgotten by an adoring public (to an extent, this extends to other portrayals of the two, including ''Film/YoungGunsII''). |
| 165 | * ''Film/ThePeopleVsLarryFlynt''. Larry Flynt wins his case against Rev. Jerry Falwell and has his place in history. Unfortunately, for him, he doesn't have his true love, Althea. |
| 166 | * In ''Film/ThePrestige'', [[spoiler: the surviving Borden twin]] ultimately "wins" in their rivalry with [[spoiler: Angier]] but at the cost of [[spoiler: the loss of his wife and brother]] and the ruination of their magic career. |
| 167 | * ''Film/PromWars'': In a surprising aversion of UnderdogsNeverLose, the preppy and athletic Lancaster students beat the nerdy and more sympathetic Selby boys in the competition for the right to ask the girls to prom. However, the Lancaster boys are even more smug and insufferable than usual as a result of their victory, and as a result, all of the girls can't stand it after a while and duck out of the party to spend time with the Selby students. |
| 168 | * ''Film/RealSteel'' ends in one [[spoiler: for [[TheBadGuyWins Zeus]]. Atom was quite literally seconds away from potentially winning the match when the final bell rings, and Zeus ends up ''barely'' winning by two points after judge scoring. But not only is Zeus' reputation for "only ever needing one round to win" completely shattered by Atom surviving the entire match against him, but it becomes abundantly clear that Atom was the fan favorite, even being named the People's Champion while the audience ''actively booed'' when Zeus was announced the winner]]. |
| 169 | * ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'': In the end, Jigsaw's actions result in the deaths of his own, his disciples who were qualified enough to succeed him, and his ex-wife. The only thing he leaves behind is his murderous legacy, which is the antithesis of everything he claimed it to be. |
| 170 | * ''Film/Se7en'' invokes this with [[spoiler: [[TheBadGuyWins John Doe]] ]]. [[spoiler: Doe's entire goal is to kill based upon the seven deadly sins, and his entire plan hinges on proving himself guilty of the sin of envy by killing Mills's wife and unborn child, thus intending to make himself the sixth victim at the hands of a vengeful Mills, to which he shoots him to death, making him the seventh Wrath victim, at the cost of Doe's own life]]. |
| 171 | * In the Hong Kong action crime drama ''Film/ShaPoLang'' (or ''Kill Zone'' in the U.S.), [[spoiler:Triad crimelord Wong Po, the villain played by Sammo Hung, defeats the hero Inspector Ma played by Donnie Yen by sending him right out a window... [[CarCushion right onto the Wong family's waiting car with Po's beloved child and wife still inside, killing all three of them]]]]. |
| 172 | * ''Film/{{Shirley}}'': Fred and Rose are destined to become as miserable and trapped together as Shirley and Stanley. The book that Shirley writes is described by Stanley as "brilliant", but she's left emotionally distraught by it. |
| 173 | -->'''Shirley:''' This one hurts more than the others. |
| 174 | * ''Film/{{Sleepers}}'': The boys win the tag football game, but a vengeful Nokes and his guards beat up the boys and lock them up. And the guards also murder Rizzo, who is black. Shakes laments how it was foolish of them to think winning a game would make everything okay. |
| 175 | * ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' ends in one such victory: [[spoiler:Khan is killed and the threat of the Augments are no more, but it cost Kirk a lot -- his precious ''Enterprise'' is shot up to hell, leading to its decommission next movie, the ''Reliant'' is destroyed, the Genesis Device is gone and numerous Starfleet personnel are dead, including numerous cadets, Captain Terell, and Kirk's best friend Spock]]. |
| 176 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': |
| 177 | ** ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' ends with the Galactic Republic claiming a decisive military victory in the Clone Wars. Unfortunately, Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, the man who single-handedly orchestrated said war, seizes dictatorial power and converts the Republic into the fascist Galactic Empire. 24 years of tyranny follow before the Empire is ultimately overthrown. |
| 178 | ** Kylo Ren in ''Film/TheForceAwakens''. Obsessed with setting himself in the image of Darth Vader, his personal [[BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad hero]] [[spoiler:and grandfather]], he has eradicated the new Jedi Order started by Luke Skywalker and joined [[TheRemnant the First Order]] in restoring the shattered Galactic Empire, but he has grown so [[SanitySlippage emotionally and mentally unstable]] that his First Order allies can't completely trust him, and in the end, he has [[spoiler:by murdered his own father, Han Solo]] at the behest of Snoke in an (failed) attempt to eradicate the Light within himself. It's hard not to [[CryForTheDevil pity him]]. |
| 179 | ** ''Film/TheLastJedi'': |
| 180 | *** During the opening, [[spoiler:the Rebels successfully destroy a First Order Dreadnought, but at the cost of a good part of their fleet, including ''all'' of their bombers, and only after it nukes their main base on D'Qar. Considering their hardware and personnel is already pretty limited to begin with, this is a really bad thing]]. Leia, Rose, and eventually Poe all realize that a battle won can mean a war lost if too many die for it, and Finn is taught this at the last minute, being stopped before he might have performed a Pyrrhic sacrifice. |
| 181 | *** It also ends in one of these for [[spoiler:the First Order. They've destroyed a major enemy base and killed most of the Resistance leadership, but have lost in virtually every other sense. The Resistance survived and is setting to work rebuilding, a huge number of soldiers and ships were lost in the [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife pursuit of a single group of enemies]], and Supreme Leader Snoke is dead, leaving the Order under the [[GeneralFailure inexperienced-at-best leadership of Kylo Ren]], aka, ''[[KlingonPromotion the person who KILLED Snoke in the first place]]''. By the way, "Supreme" Leader Kylo won't enjoy much genuine loyalty because his uncle, Luke Skywalker, humiliated him in front of the First Order military in the course of a HeroicSacrifice, which is a recipe for serious leadership problems. Even worse for the First Order, that same embarrassing display has inspired a new generation of rebels to undo the losses they inflicted on the Resistance. It's just a step short of a MeaninglessVillainVictory]]. |
| 182 | ** Things aren't much better in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''. [[HijackedByGanon Darth Sidious]] is defeated but in the process [[spoiler: the Skywalker and Solo bloodlines are wiped out, much of the Outer and Mid-Rim has been razed, the Jedi are still extinct, and the unified galactic government is in cinders]]. |
| 183 | * The movie version of ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley'' has Ripley [[spoiler:having to kill everyone he likes in order to get away with it]]. The book ends by indicating that he'll never be able to look at another policeman without that flash of alarm that says "This is it -- he's the one -- he ''knows''." Not a way ''anyone'' would like to live life. |
| 184 | * Daniel Plainview's empty isolation and drunken insanity at the close of ''Film/ThereWillBeBlood''. And his now immortal final line: ''"I'm finished!"'' implies that the way his life turned out is exactly what he wanted. |
| 185 | * The ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'': |
| 186 | ** At the end of [[Film/Transformers2007 the first movie]], Megatron is destroyed but so is the [=AllSpark=]. And Jazz was torn in half. Optimus and the surviving Autobots mourn the Battle of Mission City that they "won" and so are stuck on Earth for the remainder of the film series since they needed the [=AllSpark=] [[YouCantGoHomeAgain to bring life back to Cybertron]]. |
| 187 | ** In ''[[Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon Dark of the Moon]]'', the battle is won again by the Autobots and US Army but still Ironhide and Que were terminated plus 1200 humans were killed and Chicago is now a devastated wasteland. The comic book adaptation also kills off Dino. |
| 188 | ** In ''[[Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction Age of Extinction]]'', Optimus and Bumblebee succeed in destroying their new BigBad [[spoiler: Lockdown]] whose ship is shot down by the Chinese military but human-Autobot relations remain strained. |
| 189 | * ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'': Lord Summerisle and the villagers succeed in burning Sgt. Neil Howie alive - but the latter predicts that should the crops fail next year, the former will be betrayed and murdered by his own cult. His grimace upon hearing it heavily suggests that he knows that if Howie is not accepted, then his days are numbered. |
| 190 | * ''Film/WouldYouRather'': Iris wins the game, as in a SadisticChoice, she chooses to shoot and murder Lucas over both of them walking away alive but with no money. Iris earns enough money to pay for her sickly bother's bone-marrow transplant, but when she arrives home, Iris finds his lifeless body having been DrivenToSuicide so he stop being a burden on her life. Making her risking her life in the DeadlyGame and her murder of Lucas all for nothing. |
| 191 | [[/folder]] |
| 192 | |
| 193 | [[folder:Gamebooks]] |
| 194 | * Downplayed in ''Literature/DemonsOfTheDeep'', if you spar with Cyrano the swordfish. If you win, he acknowledges you as a master swordsman but he is as well and he's also a teacher of his fellow masters so you gain +1 to your maximum Skill level. If you lose, you gain a better +2 to your maximum Skill level instead. |
| 195 | * Happens twice in Creator/GaryGygax's ''Sagard the Barbarian'' books, if you choose to fight someone for the love of a beautiful girl - if you win, she chooses the loser. Regardless whether you win or lose, you realize you've just been played by a vain girl who's "love" is worthless. You get the most experience points by telling her you won't fight for her at all. |
| 196 | [[/folder]] |
| 197 | |
| 198 | [[folder:Jokes]] |
| 199 | * Morris and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year, and every year Morris would say, "Esther, I'd like to ride in that helicopter". Esther always replied, "I know Morris, but that helicopter ride is 50 dollars -- and 50 dollars is 50 dollars".\ |
| 200 | \ |
| 201 | One year Esther and Morris went to the fair, and Morris said, "Esther, I'm 85 years old. If I don't ride that helicopter, I might never get another chance." Esther replied, "Morris that helicopter is 50 dollars -- and 50 dollars is 50 dollars". The pilot overheard the couple and said, "Folks I'll make you a deal. I'll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and not say a word I won't charge you! But if you say one word, it's 50 dollars."\ |
| 202 | \ |
| 203 | Morris and Esther agreed and up they went. The pilot did all kinds of fancy manoeuvres; He flew in circles, climbs and dives, zigs, zags, and everything in between, but not a word was heard. He did his daredevil tricks over and over again, but still not a word. When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said, "By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn't. I'm impressed!"\ |
| 204 | \ |
| 205 | Morris replied, "Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something when Esther fell out, [[SkewedPriorities but you know -- 50 dollars is 50 dollars.]]" |
| 206 | [[/folder]] |
| 207 | |
| 208 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 209 | * The Series/EurovisionSongContest is a RealLife example: the winning country traditionally hosts next year's contest, at high cost. |
| 210 | * Music/BlueOysterCult's "Veteran of the Psychic Wars": |
| 211 | -->''You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars.''\ |
| 212 | ''My energy is spent at last, and my armor is destroyed.''\ |
| 213 | ''I have used up all my weapons, and I'm helpless and bereaved.''\ |
| 214 | ''Wounds are all I'm made of...''\ |
| 215 | ''Dare you say that this is victory?'' |
| 216 | * The [[WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}} Dethklok]] song "Bloodrocuted" tells of an electrician being chased through the woods by bounty hunters because [[CriminalDoppelganger he just so happens to look exactly like a wanted criminal with a large bounty on his head]]. He stumbles upon an electrical substation and manages to kill the bounty hunters by cutting his arms and electrifying a puddle of his own blood for them to step in. [[DidntThinkThisThrough He then realizes that he has no way to patch himself up and will therefore bleed to death very soon]]. |
| 217 | * "The Mariner's Revenge Song", by Music/TheDecemberists. The narrator is finally in a position to get revenge upon the man he met as a young child, who conned him and his mother out of home, which led her to contract a fatal case of tuberculosis and [[LastRequest begging him to exact vengeance on him]]...but both have been SwallowedWhole by a giant whale, and the narrator will likely not live long after killing the man. |
| 218 | * In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E52rxz2sjRs The Willow Maid]] a man wants to force the titular [[PlantPerson willow maid]] to marry him. He succeeds in chopping down her tree and dragging her out of the forest ... but once she is out of the forest, she turns into a flower. Thus, his plan to make her bear his children will likely not work out. |
| 219 | * {{Music/Metallica}}'s "King Nothing" is about a person who uses extreme methods to achieve a goal, stopping at nothing to get it and [[TheUnfettered letting nothing stand in their way]]. They get it, but everything comes crumbling down and they're left with nothing. They sacrificed everything for something that was worthless in the end. |
| 220 | [[/folder]] |
| 221 | |
| 222 | [[folder:Myths & Religion]] |
| 223 | * In ''Literature/TheCattleRaidOfCooley'', Queen Medb and her army manage to kill the legendary [[OneManArmy Cu Chulainn]] and steal King Conchobar mac Nessa's prized bull - but is forced to retreat from her advance by Conchobar's assembled army. Well, at least she managed to succeed in her ultimate goal of getting her own super-special bull like her husband has, right? Well, when she brings the bull back, he and her husband's bull proceed to kill each other, leaving them both with less than they began and making the entire victory pointless. |
| 224 | * This was, according to medieval myth, the fate of anyone who stabbed a {{basilisk|AndCockatrice}}. Lucian described it thusly: "What though the Moor the Basilisk hath slain, and pinned him lifeless to the sandy plain, up through the spear the subtle venom flies; the hand imbibes it, and the victor dies." |
| 225 | * In the American folk tale/folk song of "Myth/JohnHenry", the eponymous character competes against a machine to prove that a man can drill rock for a railroad tunnel faster than the machine built to replace him. John Henry beats the machine in the race, but collapses and dies afterwards from a heart attack due to overexertion, thus resulting in the machine replacing him anyway. |
| 226 | * Literature/TheBible has Matthew 16:26, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" |
| 227 | * During Ragnarok in Myth/NorseMythology, [[EvilIsBurningHot Surt]] and [[FallenHero Loki]] [[TheBadGuysWin succeed]] in ending the world and sinking it into the sea. But they along with all their minions and children die in the process, [[DarkIsNotEvil Odin's]] son [[TheHero Vidar]] avenges his father's death and survives, Odin's sons Baldur and Hodur [[BackFromTheDead come back to life]], and in most versions of the story [[BittersweetEnding a new world is reborn from the ocean.]] |
| 228 | * ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'': The Pandava ultimately win the Kurukshetra War, but the Kuru Kingdom has been utterly ruined, millions of people have died, including most of their allies, mentors, and sages. [[HeWhoFightsMonsters The Pandava have broken so many rules of the war]] that they cannot even be considered righteous anymore (e.g. Yudhishthira, well known for his honesty, had to lie, and now his formerly floating mount is firmly rooted to the ground), they accidentally killed their half-brother Karna, their sons were massacred by the Kaurava on the final day of the war, and the only survivor of that massacre, Arjuna's grandson Parikshit, dies years later for disrespecting a rishi. Their cousin and most valuable ally, Krishna, was cursed by the Kaurava's grieving mother to die in an unrelated civil war. To top it off, when they ascend to Heaven, they learn that the Kaurava ''also'' ended up in Heaven. This is lampshaded by Duryodhana [[BigBad of all people]], who points out how hollow the Pandava's victory is on his death throes. |
| 229 | -->''I have studied, given charity, governed the wide Earth with her seas, and stood over the heads of my foes! With all my well-wishers, and my younger brothers, I am going to heaven. As regards yourselves, with your purposes unachieved and torn by grief, live in this unhappy world!'' |
| 230 | [[/folder]] |
| 231 | |
| 232 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 233 | * [[Wrestling/SteveAustin Stone Cold Steve Austin]] defeated Wrestling/OwenHart at Wrestling/{{SummerSlam}} 1997 but not before his opponent dropped him on his head, resulting in a legitimate bruised spinal cord and temporary paralysis. Austin would be out of action for months and his wrestling career was shortened by years. |
| 234 | * Wrestling/BrockLesnar was hospitalized after beating Wrestling/KurtAngle for the WWE Championship at [=WrestleMania=] 19 when a botched Shooting Star Press almost broke his neck. Angle was also battling his old neck injury and had to be hospitalized too. |
| 235 | * [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] ended up being screwjobbed out of winning the WWE Championship at [=SummerSlam=] 2013 when special guest referee Wrestling/TripleH put the Pedigree on Bryan (after the match had ended), and Wrestling/RandyOrton cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to win the WWE Championship. After having his Night of Champions victory against Orton stripped away by Triple H, Bryan demanded a rematch at [=WrestleMania=] 30, with the winner of Bryan vs. Triple H going on to face Randy Orton and Wrestling/{{Batista}} in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship. After beating Triple H, Bryan went on to face off against Orton and Batista and win the WWE Championship belt. After successfully defending his championship against Wrestling/{{Kane}} at Extreme Rules 2014, Bryan lost all strength in his right arm and would have to undergo neck surgery, it was revealed that Bryan was physically unable to compete at Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank, which resulted in Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon stripping Bryan of his championship on the June 9th Raw episode, ending his reign at 64 days. Bryan would return in November 2014, and go on to face Intercontinental champion [[Wrestling/WadeBarrett Bad News Barrett]] and win the belt at [=WrestleMania=] 31, only to hit his head on the [=SmackDown=] announcers' table a week later, splitting his forehead open and requiring surgery. After undergoing an MRI, Bryan voluntarily relinquished the Intercontinental belt, and announced his retirement in February 2016. (Though he would return to the ring in 2018; he's since moved on to Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, now performing again under his real name of Bryan Danielson.) |
| 236 | * At Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2014, Team Cena (Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/ErickRowan, Wrestling/{{Ryback}}, Wrestling/BigShow, and Wrestling/DolphZiggler) faced Team [[Wrestling/TheAuthority Authority]] (Wrestling/{{Kane}}, Wrestling/LukeHarper, Wrestling/MarkHenry, Wrestling/{{Rusev|andLana}}, and Wrestling/SethRollins) with the stipulation that if Team Cena was victorious, Triple H and Stephanie [=McMahon=] would step down from power, but with a caveat: only Cena could bring back the Authority. In the end, after Big Show punched out Cena and walked away from the ring, Ziggler was the only remaining member of Team Cena, who would successively pin Kane, Harper and Rollins, giving Team Cena the win. On the December 29 Raw, Seth Rollins threatened to curbstomp special guest Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}, who had retired from multiple neck injuries, demanding that Cena bring back the Authority after little more than a month of exile. Cena had no other choice but to grant Rollins' demand, and as a result, Ziggler, Rowan, and Ryback were temporarily fired, and [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame Cena was applauded by Triple H and Stephanie]] for bringing them back into power. |
| 237 | * After the breakup of Special K, The Lovely Lacey [[YouHaveFailedMe dumped]] Izzy and Deranged in favor of managing Wrestling/JimmyJacobs and BJ Whitmer. However they ended up being a less effective TagTeam as Lacey's Angels, mostly due to Lacey's attempts to "improve" Jacobs, which caused Whitmer to turn on him when Jacobs's concern for Lacey led to them losing an Wrestling/{{R|ingOfHonor}}oH Title match to [[Wrestling/AustinAries Generation]] [[Wrestling/RoderickStrong Next]]. Lacey didn't care about Jacobs but felt Whitmer had betrayed her personally and ordered Jacobs to put him out of wrestling. This led to a one-sided feud where Whitmer almost killed Jacobs with power bombs on two separate occasions. And when Jacobs finally did manage to give Whitmer an injury Jacobs was so injured himself he required crutches. |
| 238 | * [[Wrestling/{{Paige}} Britani Knight]] wrestled five matches in twenty eight hours, leading up to her defeating [[Wrestling/NikkiCross Nikki Storm]] in the tournament finals to become the first champion of Pro Wrestling Eve. Then she came down with glandular fever. |
| 239 | * Wrestling/TheUndertaker suffered one during his Wrestling/WrestleMania 27 match with Wrestling/TripleH. Though Taker won the match, moving his [=WrestleMania=] undefeated streak to 19-0, he was so worn out afterwards that he couldn't even stand up to do his darkness salute. Taker had to be taken out on a stretcher while Wrestling/TripleH, the loser, was at least able to walk to the back under his own power. This would later be the reason for their rematch one year later at [=WrestleMania 28=]. Undertaker wasn't happy with him having to be taken out of the arena on a stretcher. |
| 240 | * Any gruesomely tiring or injurious match can be turned into one of these for the WWE Champion thanks to the introduction of the Money in the Bank briefcase. The briefcase can be cashed it at any time for a WWE Championship match, even if the champion is too worn out to properly defend their title. Notably, this is how the first cash-in went, with Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}} defeating Wrestling/JohnCena in a short match after a bruised and bloody Cena had just defended the title in an Elimination Chamber match at New Year's Revolution 2006. Other examples include Wrestling/CMPunk beating Wrestling/JeffHardy after winning the title from Edge in a Ladder Match at Extreme Rules 2009, Wrestling/{{Kane}} squashing Wrestling/{{Rey Mysterio|Jr}} after he just retained the title in a grueling match with Wrestling/JackSwagger at Money in the Bank 2010, and Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} beating Wrestling/RomanReigns after he just won a tournament for the vacant title at Survivor Series 2015. |
| 241 | [[/folder]] |
| 242 | |
| 243 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 244 | * ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'': The GrandFinale to the New Eighth Doctor Adventures, "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoNEDAS4E9LucieMiller Lucie Miller]]"/"[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoNEDAS4E10ToTheDeath To the Death]]" has a massive one. Though the Dalek plan to turn Earth into a plague planet is defeated and the Daleks destroyed, [[spoiler:the Doctor's great-grandson Alex and companion Lucie die in the process. The Doctor is left utterly [[BreakTheCutie broken]] and departs, deciding he needs to stop being so [[StartOfDarkness merciful]]]]. |
| 245 | [[/folder]] |
| 246 | |
| 247 | [[folder:Sports]] |
| 248 | * Can happen in sports if the effort to secure a win leaves players either injured or too exhausted to continue competing successfully. In the 2014 NBA Western Conference Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs decisively in two consecutive home games. The second game of the two was clearly going in the Thunder's favor from early on, and the Spurs had conceded defeat and opted to cut their losses by playing deep bench players with little experience (thereby giving their more experienced players rest for the next game). However, the unexpected tenacity of the Spurs' deep bench forced the Thunder to continue playing their starters for far longer than would normally be expected in a blowout win. As a result, the Thunders' starters were exhausted during the next game and lost by a wide margin -- before ultimately losing the series. |
| 249 | * The LSU Tigers' victory in the 2011 SEC Championship Game eventually turned out to be this. Going in, LSU was the #1 team in the country. At #2 was the Alabama Crimson Tide, who just so happened to play in the same division as the Tigers, who were ranked ahead of them largely by virtue of winning their regular-season matchup. Because of that victory, LSU earned the trip to Atlanta over the Tide and demolished Georgia 42-10. Their prize, aside from the trophy: A rematch with Alabama in the ''national'' championship game, which the Tigers lost in humiliating fashion, 21-0. |
| 250 | * In the 2010 UsefulNotes/{{Wimbledon}} Tennis Championships, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played the longest tennis match by far, clocking over 11 hours. John Isner won the match eventually with 70-68 in the fifth set. However, Isner had to play the next day again. He was visibly exhausted and required treatment for neck and shoulders. Result: he was [[CurbStompBattle defeated]] in the shortest match of the men's Wimbledon match at that point in 2010 (74 minutes). |
| 251 | ** 8 years later in that same court, Isner was again on a never-ending game in the semifinal against Kevin Anderson, only this time the adversary won after 6:36 hours of play - Wimbledon then implemented a change so tie-breaker sets would only go up to 13. The subsequent final against UsefulNotes/NovakDjokovic had Anderson lasting exactly double the time of Isner (128 minutes), showing he also barely had any fight remaining. |
| 252 | ** This ultimately happened to Andy Murray. His determination to beat one of the Top 4 and win a Grand Slam so he could bring honor back to British tennis, caused him to play a lot of matches while he was dealing with minor injuries and didn't give his body proper time to rest. He eventually succeeded, winning three Grand Slams and he became the world's number 1 player for a brief time. Unfortunately, his refusal to let his body rest caused those minor injuries to become major ones, until he announced at the 2019 Australian Open after being out of action for over a year that he was retiring at the end of the tennis season due to an unrelenting hip injury. He then backed out of his retirement plans, undergoing a risky surgery. Murray recovered well enough that he was on the tour in doubles by the time of Wimbledon, but it remains to be seen how successful his comeback will be. |
| 253 | * The early days of UsefulNotes/{{M|ixedMartialArts}}MA were plagued by Pyrrhic victories. |
| 254 | ** The early format of UFC was an eight-man single elimination bracket, where the winner would in theory win three fights in one night. However, the tournament would often be riddled with withdrawals due to fatigue or injuries. UFC 11 ended without a final match because they had run out of competitors who were able to fight. |
| 255 | ** Pride, the Japanese equivalent of UFC, had a similar incident at the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals, also a single elimination tournament. Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Royce Gracie, often regarded as one of the greatest fights in MMA history, lasted 90 minutes because Gracie demanded that the fight have unlimited rounds with no rules. Gracie withdrew after the sixth 15-minute round. Sakuraba only made it through one round of his semifinal match before withdrawing due to fatigue. Ironically, in the other semifinal match, Kazuyuki Fujita withdrew two seconds into his semifinal match due to an injury he suffered in his first match of the night. |
| 256 | * Hosting the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames can promote a city's infrastructural and cultural prowess, but it doesn't come cheap. The Summer Olympics in Montreal 1976 and Athens 2004 are particularly infamous examples -- Montreal took 30 years to break even, leading its Olympic Stadium a.k.a. "The Big O" to be nicknamed "The Big Owe". |
| 257 | * The January 2016 Wild Card Playoff Game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers did end in embarrassing fashion for the Bengals, who surrendered 30 yards of personal foul penalties on one play in the final minute to hand the Steelers the field position for a chip shot field goal to win 18-16. However, few Steelers fans were celebrating, as the source of the first fifteen personal foul yards was a concussion to star wide receiver Antonio Brown, who was ''knocked unconscious'' from an illegal helmet-to-helmet hit from Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict.[[note]]who served a three-game suspension the next season for the blatant hit, the most notable in a string of dangerous hits that have come to define his style[[/note]] (the other fifteen came after fellow Bengal Adam "Pac-Man" Jones got into a confrontation with Steelers linebacker coach Joey Porter) Brown wound up being ruled out for the Divisional Round matchup against the Denver Broncos, which combined with a hobbled Ben Roethlisberger (who'd been injured on a hard but legal hit from Burfict earlier in the fourth quarter) and a crippled run game (both star runner Le'Veon Bell[[note]]himself injured in a regular season game after an illegal [[RuleOfThree hit from Burfict]][[/note]] and veteran backup [=DeAngelo=] Williams were already injured, handing run duties to Fitzgerald Toussaint), led to the Steelers losing to the Broncos as their top-ranked defense, free of having to worry about covering Brown, shut down the rest of Pittsburgh's receiving corps as well as what little remained of their run game. |
| 258 | * The USFL, a spring competitor to the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] that ran from 1983-1985 with some success, decided to move the 1986 season to the fall to compete against the NFL. The real reason behind the move was because a group of owners, led by New Jersey Generals owner UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, believed the move to the fall would trigger either a large settlement in a Federal Anti-Trust Lawsuit, the admission of some of the teams into the NFL, or both. At the time the NFL aired on all 3 major broadcast networks and those networks declined adding (or in the case of Creator/{{ABC}} retaining) the USFL if it meant dropping the NFL. The legal case of USFL vs NFL was technically decided in the favor of the USFL, but the jury felt the USFL really did everything in their power to destroy themselves by not contacting the new Creator/{{Fox}} network, moving from the less demanding spring season, and failing to accept a deal from Creator/{{ESPN}} (who agreed to maintain the broadcasts with the new season date). The USFL victory was $1, tripled to $3 under US federal law. The 1986 season was canceled, the league folded, and none of the remaining owners have, as of 2021, ever owned a team in the NFL. |
| 259 | * Probably the most famous NFL example is the 1981 Divisional Round game between the Miami Dolphins and San Diego Chargers. While the Chargers won to move on to the AFC Championship Game, it required a double overtime that left the players utterly exhausted. The most famous image of the game is star San Diego tight end Kellen Winslow being carried off the field by two teammates after carrying the San Diego pass attack. This exhaustion, coupled with the extreme cold in Cincinnati, is usually blamed for the Chargers losing next week to the Cincinnati Bengals. |
| 260 | * In the world of bodybuilding, Ronnie Coleman is considered one of the greatest of all times. He won 8 Mr. Olympia titles, being one of the only two who surpassed Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger who won 7 titles, the other being Lee Haney. However, he paid a heavy price by suffering a back spinal cord injury which has resulted in 7 surgeries and counting in order to rebuild his back and prevent him from becoming paralyzed. Nowadays, he walks using crutches and suffers from constant pain, but tries his best to keep a positive attitude. |
| 261 | * The demise of the [=DiGard=] Motorsports UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} team in UsefulNotes/TheEighties. [=DiGard=] had been one of the more successful teams in NASCAR during the late 1970s and early 1980s with drivers such as Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison. However, by the mid-1980s [=DiGard=] began running into financial difficulties despite Allison having won the Winston Cup[[note]]now simply the NASCAR Cup Series[[/note]] championship in 1983. Where this came into play was the 1985 Pepsi Firecracker 400[[note]]now Coke Zero Sugar 400[[/note]] summer race at Daytona on July 4, 1985. For that race, [=DiGard=] entered a second car (an unsponsored #10 car used normally for research and development and driven by Greg Sacks) that was supposed to provide information for the team by running a few laps before heading to the garage (effectively becoming one of NASCAR's earliest "start and park" incidents). However, Sacks began racing quite well and ended up going on to win the race. However, soon afterwards Allison - angered over feeling that resources were being diverted from his car - bolted the team and took the car's Miller Brewing sponsorship with him, racing the remainder of the year for his own team before finishing his career with the Stavola Brothers team. Also departing around that time was iconic engine builder Robert Yates, who later moved to the Ranier-Lundy team and ultimately buying that team; renaming it Robert Yates Racing. Their departures would prove too much for the cash-strapped [=DiGard=] team, which ran a part-time schedule in 1986 before going out of business early in the 1987 NASCAR season. |
| 262 | * Despite winning via unanimous decision in a ten-round match against Luis Melendez of Colombia, Filipino boxer Z Gorres collapsed shortly after the verdict was announced, and was treated for haematoma, later undergoing extensive physical therapy for him to regain the ability to do day-to-day tasks. Said injuries have unfortunately spelled the [[CareerEndingInjury end]] of his boxing career. |
| 263 | [[/folder]] |
| 264 | |
| 265 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 266 | * The ending of Creator/{{Sophocles}}'s ''Theatre/{{Antigone}}'', in which the sympathetic AntiVillain Creon succeeds in bringing his rebellious niece to [[KnightTemplar justice]], but at the cost of [[DrivenToSuicide his entire family]], makes this OlderThanFeudalism. |
| 267 | * Curtis from ''Theatre/{{Dreamgirls}}'' cheats and double deals his way to the top of the music industry but it all catches up to him. Deena turns against him and gives Effie evidence of his shady business deals which she uses to get exclusive rights to her hit single "One Night Only". Deena leaves him and the rest of The Dreams disband. Even though Curtis is trying to move on to a new artist, it's possible he'll never get the same success he once had. |
| 268 | * An Irish play called ''The Field'' has a farmer trying desperately to get a plot of land from the woman who owns it. The reason? He wants to pass on something to his son. Of course, the farmer goes to such awful lengths to get the land (including killing someone), that by the time he finally does get the land, it's worthless to him. |
| 269 | * ''Theatre/{{Hadestown}}'' ends with Persephone returning aboveground for spring, Orpheus having finished his song and healed Hades and Persephone's relationship in the process. However, he loses Eurydice when he turns around just steps from reaching the end of their journey out of the Underworld, and is left WalkingTheEarth alone. |
| 270 | * In ''{{Theatre/Hamilton}}'', Aaron Burr kills Alexander Hamilton in their duel, but after it's over Burr realizes that Hamilton had no intention of killing Burr. The duel and Hamilton's death wrecks Burr's political career and weighs heavily on his conscience. Furthermore, Burr (who was once obsessed with upholding the legacy and good name of his parents and grandparents), goes down in history as a villain while Hamilton becomes a martyr. |
| 271 | * Theatre/{{Hamlet}} manages to avenge his father, but nearly every major character dies as a direct or indirect consequence. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when he asks an actor to recite a speech about Pyrrhus, albeit the Homeric Pyrrhus and not the trope namer. |
| 272 | * ''Theatre/InheritTheWind'' has Matthew Harrison Brady supporting the state's prohibition on the teaching of evolution by serving as the prosecuting attorney against teacher Bertram Cates. While he technically wins the case, the defense never really denies that Cates broke the law, instead attacking the law itself. Brady is soundly humiliated by his inability to defend the law, and Bertram is only handed a nominal punishment for breaking it. In the end, he has done far more to damage the state's prohibition than defend it. To make things even more blunt,[[spoiler:he promptly has a heart attack]]. |
| 273 | * In ''The Invisible Hand'', Nick earns his freedom, but the method of earning the ransom money plunged Pakistan into civil war. [[BolivianArmyEnding The sounds of gunfire and bombs draw closer to the building]] before the final FadeToBlack and company bow. |
| 274 | * ''Music/JesusChristSuperstar'' ends with him dying for man's sins but a lot of lives were ruined in the process. The existence of God and the resurrection are also never cleared up. |
| 275 | * ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'': The [=MacBeths=] killed King Duncan, forever destroying the mental peace of LadyMacbeth and turning Macbeth into a FallenHero who essentially [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul to the devil]], all for a temporary victory. In the long term, what they accomplished was to make Banquo's descendants kings. |
| 276 | * Inverted for half the cast of ''Theatre/OrdinaryDays''. At the start of the show, Warren tries to give out fliers as a way of displaying artwork, and Deb tries to complete her thesis on Virginia Woolf as part of her Graduate Dissertation. The show ends with them both taking the things they'd worked on [[spoiler:and throwing them off the top of a building after realizing that these items weren't helping them achieve their goals]]. Despite this, it's portrayed as a happy ending, with both of them finally free from the things that were causing them so much stress. |
| 277 | * The Capulets and Montagues at last make peace at the end of ''Theatre/{{Romeo and Juliet}}''. All it takes is the death of Paris, Mercutio, Tybalt, Lady Montague, and of course their two only children, Romeo and Juliet. A bitter peace indeed. |
| 278 | * ''Theatre/{{Urinetown}}'' ends with the protagonists defeating the local CorruptCorporateExecutive and his idea of preventing people from using toilets (with very harsh taxation and enforcement -- the TitleDrop turns out to be a ReleasedToElsewhere DeadlyEuphemism used by the cops) which allows people to go to the loo at will... and the town's water supply running dry, which is a very big problem considering there is a borderline-apocalyptic drought going on, [[TheExtremistWasRight which was the reason the CEO put that law in place to begin with, even if he was way too evil enforcing it]]. |
| 279 | * ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'': Both Elphaba and Glinda have these. The former has [[spoiler:survived her death sentence, but must pretend to be dead, grievously hurting her best friend, Glinda, and accept voluntary banishment]]. Glinda has ascended as the effective ruler of Oz, but [[spoiler:at the cost of the lives of her friends and fiancé]]. |
| 280 | [[/folder]] |
| 281 | |
| 282 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 283 | * ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'' |
| 284 | ** In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', [[spoiler:StrawNihilist [[BigBad Junko Enoshima]] caused TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt because her AwesomenessByAnalysis ability made her able to predict and plan for (almost) anything several steps in advance, [[GoodIsBoring which made normal life completely monotonous and quickly drove her mad with boredom and ennui]]. Her EvilPlan goes off without a hitch, except that she's unable to actually ''experience'' the VillainWorld she [[ToCreateAPlaygroundForEvil created to relieve her boredom]] since she [[ClosedCircle locked herself in the school with her classmates]] [[HopeCrusher as part of her plan to solidify her control over it]] from the very beginning. When she finally shows her face during the final class trial, she's even more jaded and apathetic than she was [[Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool previously]], implying that not even the global chaos she caused was enough to satisfy her. In the end, she's downright ecstatic that [[PlayerCharacter Makoto]] rallies everyone to choose hope and vote Junko guilty in order to leave the school and help rebuild society because it allows her to feel the unparalled despair of having her plan, the plan she spent years meticulously poring over, experimented on her own body for, tormented her friends for, even killed her sister for, to fail at the absolute last minute -- she happily [[DrivenToSuicide walks herself to her own execution]] so she can [[NightmareFetishist taste the once-in a lifetime despair of death]]. And even ''that'' [[DeathByIrony fails]] as the machinery jams, catching her by surprise (depriving her of the despair she would have felt when it came down), ''then'' smashes her a half-second later before she could process the despair of not dying like she'd hoped.]] |
| 285 | ** In chapter 5 of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', it turns out [[spoiler:Nagito]] planned his own murder so that the class would vote wrong and everyone but his killer would die. Hajime manages to win the day and prevent a mass execution, but at the cost of sentencing [[spoiler:Chiaki to death, even though she was tricked into unknowingly killing Nagito as part of his plan]]. |
| 286 | * ''VisualNovel/MuvLuvAlternative'' has many examples. The Operation 21st, the defence of Yokohoma base and specially Operation Ouka [[spoiler:in which only 2 survived the battle in the Original hive]] and that's not including many that attacked other hives to act as a diversion for the attack on the original hive. The entire BETA invasion can be taken as one as it reduced the human population to just 1 billion and turned Eurasia into a big wasteland despite eventually turning the tide with Operation Ouka. |
| 287 | * The NonstandardGameOver in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'''s final case ends this way for [[spoiler: Matt Engarde. Sure, he's able to escape conviction for the murder of Juan Corrida, but the [[VillainWithGoodPublicity pristine public image]] he'd fought so hard to protect is left in tatters after the court uncovers his role in [[DrivenToSuicide driving Celeste Inpax to suicide]], which was the exact thing he'd had Juan silenced to keep from getting out]]. |
| 288 | ** This also holds true for [[spoiler:Phoenix Wright in the same case in the same ending. He won the case, but he got a very evil person scot-free. He wandered on the streets out of shame, never setting foot in a courtroom again. While Shelly De Killer might have released Maya, Phoenix never saw her again, implying that she ceased contact with him.]] |
| 289 | * ''VisualNovel/SayaNoUta'' has this in [[MultipleEndings all of its endings]], to some degree. The worst example is the ending in which [[spoiler:Kouji and Dr. Tanbo]] manage to [[spoiler:kill Saya and Fuminori]], but afterwards, [[spoiler:Dr. Tanbo]] dies, and [[spoiler:Kouji]] ends up more or less schizophrenic, and is horrifically traumatised, suffering constant nightmares. He keeps a single bullet in the cabinet in case it ever gets [[DrivenToSuicide just that bad.]] |
| 290 | * Chapter 3 of the first installment of ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'' gives Ryunosuke an ultimatum. He will become a lawyer if he can get an acquittal for a local philanthropist. As the trial comes to an end [[spoiler: it becomes clear the defendant is guilty, but he tampered with the evidence during a recess and made it impossible to indict him. So he gets acquitted. Ryunosuke realizes his mistake by the end and though he officially becomes a lawyer, the guilt of letting a killer off weighs heavily on him. Not helped when his client is burned to death shortly afterwards]]. |
| 291 | [[/folder]] |
| 292 | |
| 293 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 294 | * A few episodes of ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' end this way: |
| 295 | ** ''Goku vs Superman'': Superman came out on top, but the world gets an EarthShatteringKaboom in the process. Although, ''[[SequelEpisode Goku vs Superman 2]]'' would have Superman using the Dragon Balls to restore the damage done in the first episode. |
| 296 | ** ''Fox vs Bucky'': Not quite as harsh, but still relevant. Fox manages to kill Bucky, but Slippy Toad was killed before the battle began [[TakeThatScrappy (granted most fans of Fox's home series would consider this an added benefit)]]. |
| 297 | ** ''White Tigerzord vs Epyon'': Even though Zechs manages to destroy the tigerzord and kill Tommy Oliver the White Ranger, his beloved girlfriend, Noin, was killed before the start of the battle. The battle ends with him crying Ocular Gushers over the remains of the Gundam she was piloting, while Zordon is left mourning Tommy's death. |
| 298 | ** PlayedForLaughs in ''Iron Man vs Lex Luthor''. While Tony defeats Lex without any life-threatening results to himself, his victory comes at a literal high cost: $5 billion for the property damage that occurred. |
| 299 | ** Also PlayedForLaughs in ''Donkey Kong vs Knuckles''. While Donkey Kong kills Knuckles for digging through his banana stash, he has to find his bananas all over again, thanks to the fight. |
| 300 | ** ''Dante vs Bayonetta'': Not outright stated, but it becomes this when you realize that [[AllThereInTheManual Bayonetta was the Left Eye]]. Dante kills Bayonetta, unknowingly failing his mission to retrieve the Left Eye of the World (the Left Eye is Bayonetta herself; Dante was under the impression it was an artifact). Plus, the DBX battle that accompanies this one revealed Dante's partner Trish was killed by Bayonetta's partner Jeanne. |
| 301 | ** ''Joker vs Sweet Tooth'': Joker triumphs by killing Needles Kane (the driver of Sweet Tooth) with Joker Venom, but the beating he took during the battle leaves him in no condition to resist the police who show up, presumably to ship him back to Arkham. |
| 302 | ** ''Lara Croft vs Nathan Drake'': Lara kills Nathan and retrieves the Holy Grail, but her helicopter was destroyed in the process, leaving her stranded in the desert. While she's survived similar conditions, it's still inconvenient. |
| 303 | ** ''Natsu Dragneel vs Portgas D. Ace'': Natsu kills Ace after he attempts to run out of town for not paying for his meal, but it comes at the cost of setting the town on fire. He's thrown out face-first into the dirt for the devastation and not even learning about Ace's extremely high bounty due to his wanted poster going up in flames. |
| 304 | ** ''Sub-Zero vs Glacius'': Sub-Zero kills Glacius, but loses his hand in the process. |
| 305 | ** ''Samurai Jack vs Afro Samurai'': Jack kills Afro, but loses his arm in the process. |
| 306 | ** ''Black Widow vs. Widowmaker'': Black Widow kills Widowmaker, but Widowmaker had already killed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent she was working with. |
| 307 | ** ''Deadpool vs The Mask'' is an odd case, as it's not a Pyrrhic Victory for The Mask, but for Wiz and Boomstick. In their eagerness to be rid of Deadpool and his annoying antics forever, they purposefully pitted him against someone he had no chance of defeating, and in doing so they had violated their own impartiality. Their guilt is further fueled by a posthumous letter from Deadpool, thanking them for helping him rediscover himself after getting lost in his internet meme fame. A bit {{subverted|Trope}} when the Continuity Stone brings DP back to life, but still. |
| 308 | ** ''All Might vs Might Guy'': Might Guy kills All Might, but he was impaled through the chest and had to resort to the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Eighth Gate: The Gate of Death]], meaning he joins his opponent soon after. |
| 309 | ** ''Goro vs Machamp'': Machamp kills Goro, but lost one of his arms and fainted from a Burn he suffered during the fight. |
| 310 | ** ''Sanji vs Rock Lee'': Sanji kills Rock Lee, but lost his leg in the process. |
| 311 | ** A meta one that's PlayedForLaughs in ''Shadow vs. Ryūko Matoi'': Shadow ''finally'' got a win in ''DEATH BATTLE!'', but he had to kill his favourite anime character to do it, which the hosts lampshade. |
| 312 | ** ''Lex Luthor vs Doctor Doom'': Doom kills Luthor, but the [=LexCorp=] building and Luthor's laboratory was blown up in the process. The whole reason why Doom challenged Luthor was to try to claim Luthor's technology and resources for Latveria. |
| 313 | ** ''Blake Belladonna vs Mikasa Ackerman'': Blake kills Mikasa, but had her Aura broken and lost her arm in the process. Then a Titan shows up. [[AndTheAdventureContinues Blake confidently charges into battle]]. |
| 314 | ** ''James Bond vs John Wick'': Bond kills Wick, but was stabbed in the chest and is bleeding out. Plus, he killed Wick in [[TruceZone The Continental]], so the guards will likely try to kill him although Bond has managed to get himself out of similar situations before. |
| 315 | ** ''Martian Manhunter vs Silver Surfer'' discusses this trope as the two come to realize that [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall their fight ultimately had no real meaning and the two are left in the dark as to why they felt they had to]]. Martian Manhunter gives Silver Surfer his wishes that he will be able to live with the uncertainty as he perishes. |
| 316 | ** ''Bill Cipher vs Discord'': Bill Cipher is given the dubious honor of being the first combantant in ''DEATH BATTLE!'' to have lost in every possible way despite winning the actual fight; he manages to destroy Discord but not before Discord [[SealedEvilInACan traps Bill in the Nightmare Realm]], [[HeroicSacrifice saving Equestria from Weirdmageddon and restoring it to normal]]. Bill undergoes a brief VillainousBreakdown [[SubvertedTrope before trying to brush it off saying that he'll escape just like last time]] and [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou offering a deal to the viewer]]. [[DoubleSubversion However]], his final appearance of the episode is him still stranded in the Nightmare Realm petulantly screaming at Wiz and Boomstick to let him out, indicating that escaping has proven much more difficult than he anticipated and/or Bill is still angry at the fact that Discord managed to get one over on him. What's more, as the spirit of chaos, Discord will just come back as long as chaos itself exists. |
| 317 | ** ''Frieza vs Megatron'': Frieza kills Megatron, but not before being reduced to one arm and half his torso. While he can survive in this state, he lacks a HealingFactor and would need outside help to be restored, which is a bit difficult considering all of his ships and men were blown up during the battle as well so he'll have to make the trip himself. Plus, he blew up Cybertron, a planet he had intended to conquer. Because of this, Frieza [[TranquilFury promises to make]] [[LeaveNoSurvivors every surviving Cybertronian pay]]. |
| 318 | * ''WebAnimation/CampCamp'': The episode "Keep The Change" centers around David trying to prove to Max that people can change their ways, as a response to him denying that he's gone through CharacterDevelopment. Ultimately, David manages to prove that he's correct... except his methods of doing so (engineering a moment where the corrupt Cameron Campbell conveniently has the only thing needed to save the camp) leave everyone disappointed in him, and he comes to the disturbing realization that [[ToxicFriendInfluence he's becoming more like Max.]] |
| 319 | * In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'' the Emperor absolutely hates his most loyal subjects because they've basically transformed most of mankind's "victories" into massive unrepairable losses, quadrillions dead and millions of souls devoured for pointless reasons, which sadly, [[TabletopGame/WarHammer40000 are all entirely canon]]. |
| 320 | * ''WebAnimation/JaidenAnimations'': "I Attempted a ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Platinum]]'' Nuzlocke": Jaiden defeats Cynthia and becomes the new Pokémon League Champion... but half of her team fell against Cynthia's Garchomp. Then she finds out that she's in an alternate reality, and that her original self suffered a TotalPartyKill. She is left racked with guilt and unable to enjoy her triumph. |
| 321 | * In ''WebAnimation/MarioBrothers'', King Koopa and his army are defeated for once and for all... at the cost of [[spoiler:the lives of Princess Toadstool, the Toads, and even the Mario Brothers themselves. The Mushroom Kingdom itself may even be doomed to destruction, since the last we see is the land being overtaken by the lava erupting from Koopa's castle]]. |
| 322 | * ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' has the defeat of the Meta and dealing with the remainders of Project Freelancer come at the price of [[spoiler:Alpha-Church and several other AI Fragments being destroyed in an [[EmP EMP blast]], Tex imprisoned in the capture unit that Epsilon-Church then joins her in (which is thrown into evidence and deemed useless) and Wash almost killed, then forced to masquerade as Church to avoid prison time. Oh, and Red Team lost Lopez. He comes back (as a head still/again) in season 11, though]]. |
| 323 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': |
| 324 | ** Pyrrha Nikos has a name of Greek origins. While her first name comes from a word meaning "flame-haired", her surname means "victor of the people". The term "pyrrhic victory" comes from the name of King Pyrrhus, whose name shares the same origin as Pyrrha. Pyrrha's name therefore can translate to "Pyrrhic Victory". During Pyrrha's tournament match against Penny, she defeats Penny but only in a way that leaves her feeling devastated. [[spoiler:As a result of Emerald [[MasterOfIllusion making her see]] a threat that doesn't exist, Pyrrha uses the full force of her magnetism Semblance to repulse Penny's swords. As Penny is a secretly a robot who is controlling her swords via wires, Pyrrha's act accidentally entangles Penny with the wires, garroting Penny so successfully that her body is torn into pieces on live television.]] |
| 325 | ** In Volume 6, the protagonists disable Cordovin's giant mecha, which gives them the opportunity to leave for Atlas in their stolen airship, only to discover that the battle has so unnerved the city that their collective negativity has lured in a giant Grimm from deeper waters, and an onslaught of winged Grimm is flying in from further inland. The mecha was designed for the purpose of fighting giant Grimm from deep water, so the city has very little effective offensive power to use against it. [[spoiler:The heroes decide to fix the problem by staying to see what they can do to help, but there's nothing they can do beyond Ruby trying to activate [[UniqueProtagonistAsset the power]] of her [[MagicalEye silver eyes]], which only works on the Grimm for a few seconds before it begins breaking free. This does buy Cordovin the time to get the damaged mecha into just enough working order to finish off the Leviathan.]] |
| 326 | * WebAnimation/WolfSongTheMovie: the heroes are able to force the Death Alpha and his goons to retreat, but [[spoiler: Arrow, Damien and the alphas have all been killed, two members of the heroes side have defected (one of which being EvilAllAlong, the other having his true alignment prior to this unknown) and whatever is left isn’t exactly in the best shape, physically or otherwise]] |
| 327 | * ''WebAnimation/TheWrathOfGigaBowser'': Giga Bowser is eventually defeated by Roy... but every other character is dead. |
| 328 | --> '''[=SuperDoodleMan:=]''' "There won't be a sequel. Everyone but Roy is dead, how could there possibly be sequel?" |
| 329 | [[/folder]] |
| 330 | |
| 331 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 332 | * The end of the ''[[WebComic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja Dr. McNinja]]'' saga "Doc Gets Rad" has [[spoiler:the doc trap Sparklelord in an infinite time-loop, preventing him from conquering the world. Of course, by doing this, he eliminated the one threat that could have permanently defeated King Radical, which Radical is more than happy to rub in Doc's face]]. |
| 333 | ** Reversed with the same effect in "The End, part 1". Due to crossing the GodzillaThreshold, [[spoiler:Doc brings Sparklelord back from banishment to stop King Radical from destroying the world. It works, but Sparklelord's vengeful ghost uses his new powers to simultaneously piss off most of Doc's RoguesGallery and pin the blame on Doc, giving his (former) enemies renewed reason to hate him. Oh, and King Radical is still president of the U.S]]. |
| 334 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'': |
| 335 | ** Sarv'swati Vel'Sharen works together with her sisters, Snadhya'rune and Zala'ess, to [[spoiler:launch TheCoup against their mother and kill her]]. This makes Sarv'swati the defacto leader of the Sharen clan, but destabilizes their empire and eventually provokes half of the clans into rebellion. By the time it's over, most of her children are dead and the throne room itself is under siege, with Sarv'swati breaking down in tears and begging [[spoiler:the very mother she killed to come back]]. |
| 336 | ** The BigBad, Snadhya'rune Vel'Sharen, enacts a series of schemes to ravage her city and make it collapse so that she can take over uncontested. She is completely successful in ruining the city, and partially successful in taking over, but the city continues to fall apart beyond her control, leaving even her unhappy with how little there is left to rule. |
| 337 | ** For extra irony, Chapter 46 is a more serious case of pyrrhic victory for the Sharen colony of Felde: [[spoiler:the Nidraa'chal push back the Owl faction (allies of Du'vantir from a neighboring city all wearing wingsuits) effortlessly, proving to the rest of the Drow that Felde can stand on its own, but in the process Snadhya'rune and Kalki both separately and very publicly lose their tempers, go on a rampage, and end up alienating their allies by showing their true colors, thereby breaking their true currency of power - fake trust, and in the process causing Snadhya to [[OffingTheOffspring kill Kalki]] when she gets fed up with her antics]]. |
| 338 | ** The Sarghress manage to conquer ''all'' of Chel[[note]]whatever hasn't been ransacked bows to their dominion[[/note]], but without any critical infrastructure, they lose the food supply lines, and all of Chel is plagued by mass starvation. Snadya'Rune quickly bribes the remaining factions with table scraps from her farming colonies to buy ironclad loyalty from millions of potential soldiers, and the Sarghress break into civil war once Quain reluctantly makes an alliance with one of the Sharen. |
| 339 | ** [[spoiler:Snadhya'rune finally obtains the title of Empress, dispersed a plague only she could cure, and forced all of Chel to accept demonkind as the new normal]], but she's pissed off too many people in the process, [[spoiler:the plague is now incurable, and many of those high-level demons want her dead]]. The frequently warring clans hate her so badly that they form a coalition so large it floods the streets; they storm the palace, destroy her life's work in mad science, and convince her few remaining loyal allies to defect or go to ground. She's left staring in visible despair at her inability to obtain what she really wanted, [[TakingYouWithMe and sets off the self destruct to take the rest of the Empire down with her]]. |
| 340 | * [[http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=/052.jpg This]] ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'' story arc involves something on a smaller scale. Gobwin Knob has made a series of losing attacks on the Jetstone forces, which were reported to their commander as victories by the pseudo-magical "rules" that make Erfworld function like a tabletop game. It takes a couple minutes for someone to point out that, by attacking, inflicting losses, and retreating, the Gobwin Knob forces were technically losing the engagement but still inflicting critical damage on the Jetstone siege forces. |
| 341 | ** ''Erfworld'' prides itself on pyrrhic victories. The first book concludes with Parson linking Thinkamancer Maggie with Croakamancer Wanda and Dirtamancer Sizemore to uncroak the active volcano underneath Gobwin Knob - croaking thousands of friendly and enemy troops and destroying the city. [[spoiler:This is then immediately subverted when Rockwell discovers that the tunnels under the volcano have loads of gems, making them the richest side in Erfworld, and Wanda finding the Arkenpliers, which she uses to decrypt all the formerly croaked soldiers of all the armies to her side.]] |
| 342 | ** The second book starts with Stanley and the Royal Crown Coalition II thinking they have a trump card to easily win the major battle in Spacerock. It ends with Stanley [[spoiler:losing every dwagon and Archon he had, shifting his capital to an incredibly underdefended position in the Spacerock ruins, and having his casters and Parson marooned in the Magic Kingdom]]. Meanwhile, every part of the [=RCC II=] loses: [[spoiler:Jetstone loses Ossomer and King Slately, Spacerock and all its soldiers; Haggar loses Prince Sammy and his army; Transylvito is nearly broke when Jillian of Faq goes rogue; Faq loses all support from the [=RCC=] and Charlie all for Ansom, who is still loyal to Wanda; and Charlie loses the trust of Trammenis, the one Jetstone who has faith in him]]. |
| 343 | *** Summed up nicely by Parson himself in a post-battle strategy meeting with his top commanders, where he summarized the monumental victory they all just achieved.... and then bluntly states that, "It. Was not. Worth it." |
| 344 | * This trope gets weaponized in ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'', where Psion Minmax is forced to win [[spoiler:by being thrown into the exit portal of the Maze of Many]]. The problem is that [[spoiler:he wanted to use the Maze to eradicate his own existence. To do so, he needs to be inside of it. ''You cannot re-enter the Maze once you've completed it'']]. |
| 345 | -->'''Psion Minmax:''' So you see, it doesn't matter how long it takes, I will win eventually.\ |
| 346 | '''Minmax:''' No. ''[grabs Psion Minmax]'' [[spoiler:You win ''now''. ''[throws him into the victory circle]'']] |
| 347 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', the troll session ends [[spoiler:with the trolls defeating the Black King and creating our universe - which allows the B1 Jack Noir to gain [[RealityWarper First Guardian]] powers, destroy all the planets in the trolls' Medium, ''including'' Prospit, Derse, and the Battlefield, and trap the trolls in the Veil for several weeks long enough for internal conflicts to kill off half of them]]. |
| 348 | * In ''WebComic/KevinAndKell'' Kevin's platform when he ran for a position on the school board was to get rid of high-stakes testing (which, in this universe, meant that there was a ten percent chance a student would be ''eaten alive''). He eventually gets enough votes from the board to get rid of it...only because the deciding voter, Camille, learned that the testing industry decided to push for a new model that required ''multiple'' tests instead of one 'all or nothing' exam. |
| 349 | -->'''Kell:''' Kevin! You won!\ |
| 350 | '''Kevin:''' I... guess... |
| 351 | * ''Webcomic/MagickChicks'': From the moment Melissa transferred to Artemis and learned Faith was the school's [[LovableAlphaBitch 'big girl on campus']], there's only been one thought on her mind: [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/no_guys dethrone her.]] Except none of her plans ever got off the ground. She only wound up becoming the new student council president due to circumstances prompting Faith to [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/make_a_break abdicate her position.]] Melissa only wanted the prestige of being the most popular girl, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor not the responsibilities that came with it.]] |
| 352 | * In ''Webcomic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'', [[Film/ThreeHundred Leonidas]] and [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]] get into a battle of gay chicken. After a long time, Leonidas concedes defeat because he misses his family. Kratos taunts him for giving up just so he can go home to his family... but is immediately reminded that ''he'' has no family to go home to now. |
| 353 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': |
| 354 | ** The ''[[Recap/TheOrderOfTheStickStartOfDarkness Start of Darkness]]'' prequel book shows this happening very, very heavily to [[WellIntentionedExtremist Redcloak]], who loses nearly everyone and everything he cares about as he tries to make progress on [[MissionFromGod the quest his god has given him]]. It also happens to a lesser extent to [[BigBad Xykon]], whose transformation into a lich has made him immortal and more powerful than ever... and becoming an undead also means that he has lost all the earthly pleasures that he had believed made life worthwhile before his transformation. (The loss of his sense of taste and ability to enjoy coffee being the one that gets emphasized by the book.) |
| 355 | ** Vaarsuvius's DealWithTheDevil, [[spoiler:literally harnessing the powers of evil]], ultimately doesn't accomplish what they planned. In a twist, V's subsequent actions cause a LOT of change, some of it even good, but they're left morose at how badly things went awry. Thankfully, this has started V down some real character development. |
| 356 | * ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure'' has two: |
| 357 | ** The second Minotaur battle at the end of book 1. The Minotaur was killed sure enough, but it also killed Pauline, the group's Barbarian and beloved friend. What's worse is that she doesn't come back when Julie attempts to revive her at a temple, due to [[DiedHappilyEverAfter not wanting to.]] |
| 358 | ** The Silverfronds Invasion ends this way in the end of book 3. The Souballo Empire did not succeed in taking over the Silverfronds Kingdom...because the kingdom is instead being destroyed by a powerful, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero unwittingly]] [[SealedEvilInACan released Demon.]] The Souballo Empire has since put the war 'on hold' until this new evil can be dealt with. |
| 359 | * ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': In "GOFOTRON Champion of the Cosmos", Zorgon Gola tries to invoke this by imbuing a [[RuleOfFunny puppy]] with the light-seeking tendencies of a moth and the universe-destroying-chain-reaction powers of a cascade missile. Once the puppy manages to reach a sun, it will destroy the universe (or Punyverse, as the protagonists call this small alternative universe). Gola's real plan is to wait for [[CombiningMecha GOFOTRON]] to defeat the puppy but be destroyed or crippled in the ensuing explosion. His plan sort of works, but ends up HoistByHisOwnPetard when his plan results in a pyrrhic victory for ''himself''. [[spoiler:Thanks to the {{Idiot Hero}}s, GOFOTRON becomes ''unable'' to perform said HeroicSacrifice. With Gola unable to cancel his plan, this results in the complete annihilation of not only GOFOTRON, but the entire Punyverse.]] |
| 360 | * In ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'', Quentyn kills the dragon--except his arm is broken, he must [[MercyKill spare the mortally-wounded Ember any further suffering]], [[spoiler:and it was the wrong dragon]]. |
| 361 | * ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' hands out Pyrrhic Victories like candy ''by design''. Standard trials will either push contestants far past their physical and mental limits, or manipulate them into sacrificing something precious about themselves. And to unlock new floors, climbers have to force their fellow climbers to drop out - usually, this involves murder. Most Rankers (successful climbers) are so riddled with trauma and mental illness that they can't think about anything not related to the caste system of the tower. |
| 362 | ** It's implied that the Tower gauntlet was specifically designed to change its contestants so the lucky champion who reaches the top [[MotiveDecay is not the same dreamer who knew what they wanted from the tower in the first place]]. Of the few who made it to the top, none had enough of their past selves remaining to ask for the wish they desired at the bottom. [[spoiler:Jahad sealing the true final floors so nobody could obtain a true wish didn't help.]] Bam might be on the fast lane to the top due to his powers, but those same powers have changed him over time to the point that [[spoiler:he wants to ''kill'' Rachel, the girl he climbed after in the first place. Making things worse is that his hatred has been cultivated, by his master no less, with the express goal of turning Baam into a tower-destroying demon overlord, no matter the cost to the world if [[BewareTheSuperman Baam eventually snaps]]]]. |
| 363 | * ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': The Inak are locked beneath the shrine because three of their teenagers broke into Lori's office. They try to team up with the invading Lions of Mercy in an EnemyMine situation to show them the military facility hidden beneath the shrine only to be degraded, beaten and slaughtered. In response they trigger the self destruct spells, destroying everything beneath the shrine including their own village. One of the two survivors [[https://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/comic/ch16/ch16_89.html describes their actions as winning]], as they'd taken some of their subjugators with them and been [[IDieFree freed]] from their subjugation. |
| 364 | -->''"Man...never sees. Like hatchlings. Anything smaller than them's only there to be eaten or toyed with. But now we've won."''*sobs*''"We've won."'' |
| 365 | * In [[http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autotwb1189.html this]] ''Webcomic/TheWhiteboard'' strip, Roger describes the aftermath of an indoor snowball fight (ItMakesSenseInContext) as being a Pyrrhic victory after the use of a snowblower results in Doc's office getting three feet of snow dumped into it. While this is the one time it's mentioned, a Pyrrhic Victory tends to be a regular occurrence in any conflict on or off the field, due to the fact that the participants have a habit of [[MoreDakka going overboard]]. |
| 366 | [[/folder]] |
| 367 | |
| 368 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 369 | * Discussed by WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd, who considers beating ''VideoGame/TheKarateKid'' on NES to be a Pyrrhic Victory that leaves no satisfaction, but only regret. He likens it to coming out the winner of a fist fight, but achieving nothing for your victory other than bloody bruises and broken bones. |
| 370 | * WebVideo/BennettTheSage and WebVideo/JesuOtaku have done several crossover videos, with the idea in mind being Bennett attempting to [[BreakTheCutie Break]] or CorruptTheCutie with [[{{Squick}} terrible and sexually shocking or exploitative anime]]. In the third such crossover, JO reviews ''Anime/MasterOfMartialHearts'' for Bennett, and he agrees that Sage has won and shown him something so gratuitously cruel and horrific that he just can't laugh it off or remain unaffected by it. However, after a relatively short spell of being horrified and depressed, JO remembers that it was just fiction and all the good things about real life, then goes outside to enjoy himself and cheer himself up by playing with his roommate's dog. Meanwhile, Sage is left in a deep depression with his "victory", pondering where mankind has gone wrong, and whether a species capable of such cruelty and darkness is worthy of redemption. |
| 371 | * ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'': |
| 372 | ** The titular character gets, in his own words, everything he ever wanted: respect as a villain, entrance into the elite Evil League of Evil, and the defeat of his nemesis. However, it costs him [[spoiler:the life of the only woman he's ever loved before he's even been able to tell her how he feels]]. Not to mention [[spoiler:her last words]]. Can you imagine any satisfaction in his "victory" at all after something like that? |
| 373 | ** Note that the Evil League of Evil pushed Dr. Horrible into doing something that might result in this trope ("and now assassination is just the only way"). This is implied to be standard procedure for the ELE, so that applicants end up losing all their ideals and become simply evil before they finally enter. |
| 374 | ** In the prequel comic that detailed Billy's past, it's shown that his [[StartOfDarkness inspiration]] was witnessing a MadScientist villain named Mister Maniacal successfully killing the superhero Justice Joe. Later on in the comic however, it's mentioned that Maniacal was soon killed by a lynch mob afterwards. |
| 375 | * Lampshaded when the host of ''WebVideo/FeedingTheTrolls'' was planning on doing a video about Lord Steven Christ, a complete whackjob conspiracy theorist known for preaching for 15 years that everyone has been living on the ''inside'' of the Earth this whole time, along with other wild antics... until he suddenly came out as "The Best Troll Ever". He did a video about him anyway, claiming that [[NeverLiveItDown completely destroying his reputation]] simply wasn't worth it. |
| 376 | * According to the ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'' the ending of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'' is this, and they even reference this trope by name at one part before Dan sums it up: |
| 377 | --> Yay! Alright! [[SarcasmMode Well, that was a very uplifting ending!]] [[spoiler: You don't get the vaccine, the city explodes, two people live, and that is it.]] |
| 378 | * ''WebVideo/InternetHistorian'' describes the Kony 2012 campaign as this, where Jason Russel set out to make Ugandan war criminal and cult leader Joseph Kony a household name. Where he ''did'' at least succeed at that and make the whole planet aware of Kony, it came at ''great'' personal cost to Russel where he suffered a complete mental breakdown from the stress and a devastating blow to his PR, it pissed off Uganda who's prime minister declared "We do not need a slick video on Youtube for us to take notice!"[sic], the actual turnout for the event was underwhelming, many folks used it as an excuse to vandalize, as of 2022 Kony is still at large and reported to be hiding in Darfur, and absolutely nothing came of the event ''except'' a bunch of people are now aware Kony exists. |
| 379 | * Mentioned by name by ''WebVideo/LegalEagle'' when he's reacting to ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie''. Legal Eagle explains how, unlike in the movie, you can't sue the entire human race; you can only sue a recognizable entity who can show up in court and hire an attorney. He explains this is why lawsuits against God can't work -- even if you won, there is no way to notify Him and or get anything out of Him. (And for the record, this is the logic behind lawsuits against God which have been filed in real life.) |
| 380 | --> Even if it goes forward, the case will go into what's called "default"[[note]]Judgment granted when one party to a lawsuit fails to comply with court procedure, such as ignoring a court order or just never showing up to court[[/note]]. Which means that the propounding party wins because the other party didn't respond. But the problem is there's no way to recover whatever winnings you might be entitled to from God, so it's a Pyrrhic Victory in either case. |
| 381 | * ''WebVideo/LogansTale'': [[spoiler:''Logan's Day'' ends with Logan defeating the Think Tank and rescuing Veronica, but she is horribly injured, and Boone dies pointlessly, robbed of even the chance to go down in a blaze of glory like he wanted]]. |
| 382 | * The ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' YTPMV "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZEPgLkzhwE Win the Race]]" ends this way. Robotnik finally gets his wish, [[TheBadGuyWins beating Sonic in a race]]. But he is only able to do this by holding Tails hostage to threaten Sonic into throwing the race, which makes this "accomplishment" completely hollow and meaningless, and everyone knows it. Moreover, [[RichesToRags he apparently spent all his money]] trying to find a way to outdo Sonic. And lastly, [[MeaninglessVillainVictory the victory doesn't even actually serve any purpose beyond his own self-gratification]] - he didn't even capture Sonic by the end of it. But at least he won the race! |
| 383 | [[/folder]] |
| 384 |
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