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3%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
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6[[quoteright:257:[[{{Website/Cracked}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mario-downer_7971.jpg]]]]
7[[caption-width-right:257:[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Wait,]] ''what?!'']]
8
9->'''Cartman:''' And they all lived happily ever after... except for Kyle, who died of AIDS two weeks later.\
10'''Kyle:''' God damn it, Cartman!
11-->-- ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', "[[Recap/SouthParkS8E14WoodlandCritterChristmas Woodland Critter Christmas]]"
12
13A Sudden Downer Ending is a GrandFinale in which an otherwise completely [[SugarBowl upbeat, accessible series]] ends on an [[DownerEnding unimaginably bleak note]]. Can also apply to self-contained movies, books, video games, etc. with such endings.
14
15Often done because TrueArtIsAngsty and because MoodWhiplash is an effective way of manipulating your audience, or as a way of adding depth to the main characters at the last moment.
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17The 3-way baby of MoodWhiplash, CerebusSyndrome, and DownerEnding. See also DiabolusExMachina, TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, TheBadGuyWins, GainaxEnding, CruelTwistEnding, ShootTheShaggyDog, and EverybodyDiesEnding. Opposite of a SurprisinglyHappyEnding. Can be a result of CreatorBreakdown or used as a means to TorchTheFranchiseAndRun. Can result in an AudienceAlienatingEnding, cries of DarthWiki/RuinedForever and even {{Narm}} if handled poorly. Could have induced [[TooBleakStoppedCaring audience apathy]]...but then, you've probably already finished watching it, haven't you? If it's subverted for comedy, see ShockAndSwitchEnding. Contrast TearDryer.
18
19EarnYourBadEnding is a gameplay equivalent which can lead to this trope; indeed, in many games with MultipleEndings, it's a safe bet that at least one of the endings is going to be this if the tone of the rest of the game is upbeat.
20
21'''If a work was dark or serious to begin with, it does not qualify for this trope and is simply a DownerEnding.'''
22
23!!''WARNING:'' This is a SpoileredRotten trope, that means that '''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE''' on this list is a spoiler by default and will be unmarked. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]]. Only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list.
24----
25!!Examples:
26[[index]]
27* SuddenDownerEnding/AnimeAndManga
28* SuddenDownerEnding/ComicBooks
29* [[SuddenDownerEnding/LiveActionFilms Films - Live-Action]]
30* SuddenDownerEnding/{{Literature}}
31* SuddenDownerEnding/LiveActionTV
32* SuddenDownerEnding/VideoGames
33* SuddenDownerEnding/WesternAnimation
34[[/index]]
35
36[[foldercontrol]]
37
38[[folder:Advertising]]
39* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRVslkan08U This]] 2015 Super Bowl commercial by Nationwide Insurance. Most of the commercial is the typical run-of-the-mill life insurance ad, with a young kid speaking about his future aspirations... and then the rug is pulled underneath the viewers when the commercial reveals the kid died in an accident (presumably from a bathtub drowning).
40* Played for laughs in a ''Advertising/UFOKamenYakisoban'' ad, where Sauce and Claudia fight off the Demon King, escape safely, and get vaporized by a fireball in the last second of the commercial.
41[[/folder]]
42
43[[folder:Eastern European Animation]]
44* While ''Animation/VizipokCsodapok'' has its happy and sad moments, its overall tone is rather upbeat. Then comes the series finale where the diadem spider drifts away in the autumn wind, with the implication that he will never see the the water spider again.
45[[/folder]]
46
47[[folder:Fan Works]]
48* ''Fanfic/TheDesertStorm'': ''Coronation'', the final arc of Act I, ends with Ben exposing Palpatine as a Sith before he can be elected Chancellor and killing him in a vicious duel. For a moment, it seems as though the Sith are defeated for good and Ben can finally rest knowing the future is safe... until he's suddenly interrupted by Darth Plagueis, who congratulates him for defeating his apprentice, revealing that this timeline's Palpatine hadn't killed his master yet. Before Ben can warn the Jedi, he has a PostVictoryCollapse and is abducted by Plagueis, who implies that he's going to force Ben to become his new apprentice.
49* ''Webcomic/DragonBallReboot'': Most of Season 2 is a SliceOfLife-style story about Gine settling in on Earth and raising her son in a peaceful environment with Grandpa Gohan's help. Then comes the ending where Kakarot transforms into an uncontrollable Great Ape after looking at a full moon, attacks his mother, and accidentally kills Grandpa Gohan.
50* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/34059328/chapters/84722926 The Joestar Chronicles]]'', a GenderFlip adaptation of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', does this in Josuko's (female [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Josuke]]) and Giornata's (female [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Giorno]]) chapters, thanks to the events of ''Manga/StoneOcean'' with [[ApocalypseHow Made in Heaven accelerating time and causing everyone to die]]. The only thing that keeps their chapters from becoming a complete DownerEnding is that they get to reunite with long-dead loved ones and they finally get to see their mothers, Josephine and Johanna respectively, in heaven.
51** Josuke is able to save Morioh from dangerous Stand Users like Angelo and Yoshikage Kira, continues to save others as a nurse, connects to her paternal family like her brother Hollius and her distant relative Giornata, and gets together and marries her boyfriend Okuyasu. However, she and her loved ones all die in 2011, [[YankTheDogsChain right when she and Okuyasu were about to adopt a child]].
52** After the turmoil of separating from her father DIO, ending up in an abusive home life, and seeing three of her new TrueCompanions die, [[EarnYourHappyEnding Giornata is able to successfully defeat Diavolo and take over Passione to better help Italy]], forming a strong bond with her new friends and family and [[RelationshipUpgrade even getting together with Fugo]] after [[AdaptationalGenderIdentity they]] return. However, everything starts to fall apart in 2011 when Pucci arrives, [[WeCanRuleTogether offering her the chance to complete her father's goal of reaching Heaven and reviving him]]. But when Giornata refuses [[BrokenPedestal thanks to already learning what a monster DIO really was]], he leaves [[{{Depower}} while also stealing her Stand Gold Experience Requiem]]. By the time she and her friends meet up and she recovers from her catatonic state, they all get caught up in the destruction by the end of the world
53* {{Subverted}} in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' fan comic ''Webcomic/NeverSayGoodbye''. There's a SurprisinglyHappyEnding where Nick and Judy, despite their harsh breakup, manage to reconcile and become AmicableExes, and they accomplish their dreams independently while starting families of their own. Then the epilogue appears to show Judy, who's become mayor of Zootopia, being assassinated by her political opponents. However, her death turns out to be ABloodyMess, leaving her unharmed.
54* The ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11428376/1/You-will-remain-forever-in-my-Spark You will remain forever in my Spark]]'' ends with Starscream mourning the death of his adopted ward Nightshade.
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder:Music]]
58* Music/DepecheMode has "Blasphemous Rumours". It's about a sixteen-year-old girl who attempts suicide, survives and is so thankful that her faith in God is renewed...but less than two years later, she is involved in a car accident, ends up on life support and dies.
59* Music/KeroKeroBonito's "Pocket Crocodile" is a cute, quirky number about taking loving care of a pocket-sized crocodile. Then the final verse suddenly ends lamenting that [[WeAllDieSomeday his lifespan isn't very long and that he'll be gone someday]], abruptly turning the song about [[LostPetGrievance a fable of dealing with losing a pet]].
60* "Detroit Rock City" by Music/{{KISS}}: A song about a young man driving to a KISS concert and generally enjoying the hell out of life. Right up until he's killed in a head-on collision with a semi. Worse, it's BasedOnATrueStory.
61[[/folder]]
62
63[[folder:Music Videos]]
64* Lilian Garcia's video for "You Drive Me Loca" seems like it's just Lilian having fun with her boyfriend on the beach. Then the end of the video reveals that Lilian is actually in a mental hospital and the boyfriend is actually her doctor.
65* Music/PanicAtTheDisco's music video for "Look Ma, I Made It" has Brendon Urie and his puppet self go through all the pains of stardom. After he gets to his lowest point, he starts building himself back up and rehabilitating himself. By the end, he's so back on track that the real Brendon is able to proudly perform for an adoring audience...up until he bows and his muppet self takes his place on the stage. We then see [[CorruptCorporateExecutive his producer]] holding Muppet Brendon up, basking in the applause before unceremoniously pulling him off and throwing him in a pile of discarded muppets.
66* Music/TheyMightBeGiants's "Hopeless Bleak Despair" pulls a double reversal with this. The title naturally suggests a sad song, but the song is actually an upbeat and about how the singer's despair has gone away...until the ending, which reveals it went away because he died and went to hell, while his despair went to heaven.
67* Music/{{Twice}}: The "knock knock" music video has a very happy and fun tone, so the implication that they all freeze to death after getting locked out of the house at the end and become the ghosts scaring the kids at the end of the "Music/{{TT}}" video is very dark.
68[[/folder]]
69
70[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
71* In the final episode of ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'', the main character, Earl Sinclair, accidentally triggers an ice age by over-industrializing the world. He then has to explain why they're all going to die to his youngest child. Cut to the outside of the house, where snow is piling over the entire house. In the final shot, recurring newscaster Howard Handupme solemnly states that [[GlacialApocalypse the snow is getting harsher, the days are getting darker, and there's no end in sight]]. He issues a formal "Good night". He thinks about the statement for a moment, then reconsiders, looks straight into the camera with weary, uncertain eyes, and solidly states, "Goodbye."
72[[/folder]]
73
74[[folder:Theatre]]
75* The play ''[[https://books.google.com/books/about/Chicken.html?id=1iDmBwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y Chicken!]]'' by Mark Wheeller, also known as ''Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?'', is a play familiar to a lot of former British schoolchildren. It follows two cousins, Tammy and Chris. The play is mostly comical, featuring audience participation and silly jokes, and deals with issues like bullying and peer pressure. We are led to believe that Chris, an irresponsible teenager, will be killed by refusing to wear his helmet while on his bike, but in a sudden and shocking twist, Tammy, in a momentary lapse of judgment, decides to play a game of chicken with cars, and she is killed by being run over. In some performances, Tammy is carrying a balloon, and her being killed results in the balloon [[HellIsThatNoise popping very loudly]]. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids Once again]], [[ScareEmStraight this is a play performed for children as young as eight.]]
76* ''Theatre/{{Urinetown}}'': In the near future, a water shortage has made private bathrooms illegal, with citizens reduced to poverty attempting to pay outrageous fees to use public ones. A revolution rises up and defeats the CorruptCorporateExecutive in charge, removing his hold on the town, and allowing free access to toilets for everybody. Unfortunately, as the LemonyNarrator explains in the last moments of the show, this caused the water to dry up and everyone to die of dehydration, the heroes of the revolution implied to have been executed.
77[[/folder]]
78
79[[folder:Visual Novels]]
80* The Secret True End of ''[[VisualNovel/LilysDayOff Lily's Night Off]]''. Both this story and the prior one, ''Lily's Day Off'', had focused on comedy to the point that even their bad ends, often featuring the brutalization and/or death of the cast, are darkly humorous. But the final ending, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvBTtU-uPsE as seen here]], is an entirely serious and dramatic reveal that everything beforehand has been failed attempts to reunite with a beloved, which is costing the protagonist his life...and then it's followed by a MoodWhiplash, BreakingTheFourthWall epilogue.
81* ''VisualNovel/MalusCode'' is mostly a light-hearted romp not unlike ''Tokyo School Life'' (made by the same people), but at the end of each route things become ''very'' [[NightmareFuel messed up]]. Also, after finishing the game once, the title screen changes to a more horror-inducing one. You can see the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnYSAXigYks&list=PLZLY-65da7WaizguFZQw4hiTfLFXDaLRV&index=9 endings]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMOWcM2cMlQ for]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu5MT9nVLJA yourself]].
82[[/folder]]
83
84[[folder:Web Animation]]
85* The original ''WebAnimation/{{Jerry}}'' short. The final ''Jerry'' short was also quite dark compared to the others, until the ending.
86* Episode 12 of ''WebAnimation/LlamasWithHats'' ends on a very downbeat note. After Paul left Carl in episode 6, Carl struggled to adapt to life without him and he became even more unhinged than ever. Episode 12 takes place after Carl has destroyed all of civilization and Carl tries to get back together with Paul, only to find out that Paul died a long time ago. With his only friend gone and nothing left to do, [[DrivenToSuicide Carl throws himself off a bridge and drowns]]. Unlike the rest of the series, none of this is played for laughs.
87* The quirky and random ''WebAnimation/MassDefect'' video ends on a [[MoodWhiplash really somber note]] with [[TheHeroDies Shepard being killed]].
88* ''WebAnimation/MetaRunner'': Season 2's finale, "Fatal Error", initially makes it seem like things are ending on a happy note: [=TASCorp=]'s shady activities have been exposed, Tari finally has some answers to who she really is, and after talking Masa out of shooting Lucks, MD-5 are about to leave Lucks to the authorities...and then Masa's arm gets hijacked, forcing him to kill Lucks anyways, and he and Belle stay behind and presumably get arrested while the rest of MD-5 are forced to go on the run.
89* The flash series ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic My Little Pony]]: [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Thinking With Portals]]'', is a lighthearted comedy crossover between MLP and ''Portal'', and features each of the Mane Cast (and the Princesses) having lighthearted hijinks with portal guns. The final episode, which will involve Twilight getting her revenge for being the ButtMonkey for the entire series, is stated to be ''much'' more serious than the rest of the series, the author admitting some of it may end up veering into GrimDark territory. However, the author has personally leaked that in the end, EverybodyLives.
90* In the last episode of ''WebAnimation/NyanNekoSugarGirls'', Raku [[DeathByDespair dies of a broken heart]] after she confesses her love for Hitoshi, only to find out that he has entered [[AMatchMadeInStockholm a romantic relationship with his kidnapper.]]
91* The 100th episode of ''WebAnimation/WeeblAndBob'' actually ends with the death of Donkey, Chris the Ninja Pirate's wife. Inverted in the following episode, which revolves around Weebl, Bob, and Chris attending Donkey's funeral. [[TheFunInFuneral Cue Mr. Teeth]].
92-->'''Mr. Teeth:''' It's time to put the donkey into the asshole!
93* The animated short ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybop2CgBSfc Pig Me]]'' seemingly concludes with the pig having finally found a home in the form of the pet shop owner... only for the real last scene to be her [[TheHeroDies serving his head on a plate]].
94[[/folder]]
95
96[[folder:Webcomics]]
97* ''Webcomic/{{Concerned}}, the Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman'', is mostly a gag strip that ends with...[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin oh, guess]]. Of course, it's still ''funny'' while doing so.
98* ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'' had a mini-arc in which the female lead Lilah becomes pregnant [[ConvenientMiscarriage only to have a miscarriage]]. Yes, this is the same comic in which the main character built a wacky human-hating robot out of an Xbox and was once crowned the King of Gaming after an evil company tried to exploit the fictional gamer holiday of "Winter-een-mas". Naturally, [[MemeticMutation the internet]] made its own humor out of the situation, making the miscarriage strip ([[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/loss entitled "Loss"]]) one of the comic's most famous, and arguably an inversion of this trope to new readers.
99* ''[[http://doobl.comicgenesis.com/d/20060623.html Doobl]]'': What appears to be a normal family-friendly webcomic for a fair number of strips, then has the protagonist go crazy and slaughter the cast before killing himself. Meanwhile, in the news posts, the author's mother dies. He spends the remaining posts increasingly lashing out against the world. It ends with a newspaper clipping covering the author's suicide. It turned out to be a hoax.
100* The 'Flower Knight' sidestory in ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}''. A Knight quested and struggled for years to find the world's most beautiful flower for his queen. He finds it, brings it to his queen and the two live HappilyEverAfter alongside BabiesEverAfter. Then the flowers reveal themselves to be parasitic in nature and drain the life out of ''every single person'' in the Knight's city. His wife, his children, his servants, the commonfolk...'''''Everyone''''', leaving him the sole survivor in a city of bodies. He sets out of the city to kill the creature that gave him the flower and ruined his life. ''That is when the story ends''. No resolution and to make it worse the flowers ''are still around''.
101* ''Webcomic/TheLastDaysOfFOXHOUND'' has everyone DoomedByCanon. As such, the last chapter is just a montage of their bodies. It's emphasized by how sudden it is -- cutting straight from the "preparing for battle" montage to the death montage. At least the ghosts of the dead characters show up to joke about their ineptitude, providing a relieving comical note.
102-->'''Liquid Snake:''' That ''sucked''.\
103'''Big Boss:''' ''You'' suck.
104* ''It's All Been Done'' ended with the main character and his wacky group of talking toys about to have an adventure when he realizes the entire thing was an attempt to avoid dealing with his wife's death.
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder:Web Original]]
108* Discussed and parodied in the ''Podcast/EightiesAllOver'' December 1983 episode. Noting that the comedy-drama ''Reuben, Reuben'' has a shockingly dark ending (he doesn't spoil it, but the despondent main character decides not to commit suicide after all only for a dog to accidentally see his death through instead) -- Drew [=McWeeny=] compares its effect to what would have happened had the merry title character of ''Film/{{Arthur 1981}}'' suddenly killed himself, complete with playing the sound effect of a gunshot...and then the chorus of "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)".
109* ''WebVideo/DemoReel'' was never very happy to begin with, but ''The Review Must Go On'' ended with the apparent RetGone of all of the characters except Donnie, who regressed and reawakened back into WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, who seems to be even more unhappy and suicidal these days than he was before ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee''.
110* ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' seems like a silly musical about super heroes and villains, even if it does have a VillainProtagonist. Then you hit the point where the "evil scheme" starts to unfurl, and things start happening. [[spoiler: Dr. Horrible gains his goal of joining the League, [[PyrrhicVictory but in the process]] Penny is killed. He tries to hide it, but it is obvious Dr. Horrible is is left completely broken.]]
111* The finale of [=GuavaMovement's=] LetsPlay of ''VideoGame/XCom Apocalypse''. Humanity ''won''. They defeated the aliens. Then, in the final chapter, Soup Bot, an android who has been protagonist Otto Zander's closest friend and ally throughout the story, reveals that he was manipulating and using Zander from the beginning as part of his plan to commit genocide on humanity in retribution for their mistreatment of Androids. Soup Bot also reveals that ''he'' was responsible for several of the story's major events (the attack on the Evening Star, the attack on the Senate that X-Com was framed for, etc). The story ends with Otto, alone and dejected in his base, unable to do anything but watch as Soup Bot's army takes over the world. Oh, and TheStinger has a member of [[ReligionOfEvil the Cult of Sirius]] forming an alliance with the Alien Hive Mind to destroy both the Androids ''and'' humanity.
112* Jade Star's LetsPlay of ''[[VideoGame/UFOAfterBlank UFO: Aftermath]]'', a direct continuation of the above, ends in a similar way. The remnants of humanity find a way to repel the encroaching alien Biomass and launch a successful mission against the alien command center on the moon. But the final chapter consists of Commander Vault's reports over subsequent months about how the Biomass is growing resistant to the humans' repulsors, then it starts pushing back and retaking lost ground no matter what they do to it. This is a case of DoomedByCanon, however, since ''UFO: Aftershock'' assumes that humanity agreed to the truce offered by the aliens late in ''Aftermath'', so Jade Star had to find a way to link the good ending of ''Aftermath'' to the sub-optimal start of ''Aftershock'' to LP the next game.
113* PlayedForLaughs during the LetsPlay/PartyCrashers[='=] second ''Gartic Phone'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YOkSJdZEzg video]], where during a round of Animation, Nick draws Vernias getting attacked by a shark. Brent and Vernias draw him escaping the shark and celebrating, only for the last drawing by Sophist [[DiabolusExMachina revealing that the shark has laser eyes and it blasts Vernias with them]]:
114-->'''Vernias:''' (''as he jumps away from the shark in the drawing'') It's fine! I win these! I win these!\
115'''Sophist:''' (''as his drawing appears'') Yeah, unfortunately, no you don't win these.\
116'''Vernias:''' Why?! That's not fair!
117* Season 1 of ''Podcast/ThePenumbraPodcast'' ends like this, although it's more of a [[BittersweetEnding Sudden Bittersweet Ending]]. After a season's worth of WillTheyOrWontThey, Juno and Peter [[RelationshipUpgrade finally get together]]; they make plans to leave [[WretchedHive Mars]] for good and travel the galaxy together. Until Juno chickens out at the last second because of his fear of commitment and, the day before they're supposed to take off, [[NotStayingForBreakfast leaves Peter in the middle of the night without saying goodbye]].
118* {{Subverted}} in ''WebVideo/ProfessorJuice'''s ''VideoGame/ToyStory2'' review. After Rosie gives a butchered overview of the game's plot, her Woody and Buzz toys turn out to be alive all along and leave her for making a mockery of the story. Rosie is heartbroken by their departure...that is, until she realizes she can just buy replacements on eBay.
119* ''WebVideo/TalesFromTheTable'' started off very comedic and ends in a depressing way, as the Game Master is fed up with his players and kills them all, invoking TheBadGuyWins and leading them to quit in disgust.
120[[/folder]]
121

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