History Main / HopelessWar

* Creator/JRRTolkien just loved this trope.
** The War of the Jewels in [[Literature/TheSilmarillion Quenta Silmarillion]] in which Elves go to war against the strongest of the Archangels in the Arda.
*** And the struggle of that said Archangel ([[DarkLord Morgoth]]) against the rest of the Archangels, Elves and Men.
** The struggle of Men against the said Archangel due to the same war.
** The War of Wrath, a single battle which lasted for ''over fifty years'' and destroyed an entire continent.
** The struggle of Sauron against the forces of Númenor.
*** And the subsequent fall of Númenor, and ''their'' war against ''all'' of the Archangels in [[Literature/TheSilmarillion Akallabêth]]...
*** ...which ends in the intervention of the ''God'' himself! This wasn't so much a ''war'' as "Neener neener, we're invading your country" followed ''immediately'' by RocksFallEveryoneDies.
** The war of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.
** The war of the Ring in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. The commanders of the Western forces are fully aware that all they're doing is delaying the inevitable in a desperate bid to distract the enemy while ''something else'' happens, and that actually ''winning'' is entirely dependent on that "something else".

* Creator/StephenBaxter's ''Exulant'' novel details the {{Scary Dogmatic| Aliens}} [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humanity's]] obsessive war against all other aliens in the galaxy. As the story opens they've been besieging the ''Literature/{{Xeelee| Sequence}}'' center of operations in the center of the galaxy for several thousand years. The Xeelee are, well, just doing their thing and occasionally zapping the annoying primates. [[spoiler:The Xeelee are in turn, fighting against the Photino Birds, who outnumber them 4-to-1 and cannot be outmaneuvered even with time travel, meaning the outcome of the war has been decided since shortly after the Big Bang.]]

** Two UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} games, Imagic's ''VideoGame/{{Atlantis}}'' and U.S. Games' ''M.A.D.'', were also based around the same premise.

* It's a common theme in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series that the war against bioterrorism is a hopeless endeavor, exemplified through multiple series mainstays having crisis of confidence upon realizing that they're no closer to stopping it than when they started decades ago. Both Leon and Chris [[DrowningMySorrows turn alcoholic]] throughout the course of their careers to cope with it; Chris quit the force outright to spend his time getting drunk prior to the event of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', while Leon neglects his work to do the same during the event of ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta''. This is even brought up as a plot point during ''Anime/ResidentEvilDeathIsland'', with the main villain delivering a personalized ReasonYouSuckSpeech to each major protagonist for failing to make any lasting impact throughout their long crusade, no matter the cost. As of the latest chronological game in the series, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'', the timeline has moved well into the late 2030s (over 20 years since said villain's speech) and the war against bioterrorism is still ongoing since the 1990s. Worse still, even the supposed good guys are getting [[https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fmv89n9hs6afc1.jpeg bioweapons]] of their own to combat bioterrorism, ensuring that the proliferation of it will never end.

* It's a common theme in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series that the war against bioterrorism is hopelessly futile, exemplified through multiple series mainstays having crisis of confidence upon realizing that they're no closer to stopping it than when they started decades ago. Both Leon and Chris turn alcoholic throughout the course of their careers to cope with it; Chris quit the force outright to spend his time getting drunk prior to the event of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', while Leon neglects his work to do the same during the event of ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta''. This is even brought up as a plot point during ''Anime/ResidentEvilDeathIsland'', with the main villain delivering a personalized ReasonYouSuckSpeech to each major protagonist for failing to make any lasting impact throughout their long crusade, no matter the cost. As of the latest chronological game in the series, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'', the timeline has moved well into the late 2030s (over 20 years since said villain's speech) and the war against bioterrorism is still ongoing since the 1990s. Worse still, even the supposed good guys are getting [[https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fmv89n9hs6afc1.jpeg bioweapons]] of their own to combat bioterrorism, ensuring that the proliferation of it will never end.

* It's a common theme in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series that the war against bioterrorism is hopelessly futile, exemplified through multiple series mainstays having crisis of confidence upon realizing that they're no closer to stopping it than when they started decades ago. Both Leon and Chris turn alcoholic throughout the course of their careers to cope with it; Chris quit the force outright to spend his time getting drunk prior to the event of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', while Leon neglects his work to do the same during the event of ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta''. This is even brought up as a plot point during ''Anime/ResidentEvilDeathIsland'', with the main villain delivering a personalized ReasonYouSuckSpeech to each major protagonist for failing to make any lasting impact throughout their long crusade, no matter the cost. As of the latest chronological game in the series, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'', the timeline has moved well into the late 2030s (over 20 years since said villain's speech) and the war against bioterrorism is still ongoing since the 1990s. Worse still, even the supposed good guys are getting bioweapons of their own to combat bioterrorism, ensuring that the proliferation of it will never end.

* It's a common theme in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series that the war against bioterrorism is hopelessly futile, exemplified through multiple series mainstays having crisis of confidence upon realizing that they're no closer to stopping it than when they started decades ago. Both Leon and Chris turn alcoholic throughout the course of their careers to cope with it; Chris quit the force outright to spend his time getting drunk prior to the event of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', while Leon neglects his work to do the same during the event of ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta''. This is even brought up as a plot point during ''Anime/ResidentEvilDeathIsland'', with the main villain delivering a personalized ReasonYouSuckSpeech to each major protagonist for failing to make any lasting impact throughout their long crusade, no matter the cost. As of the latest chronological game in the series, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'', the timeline has moved well into the late 2030s (over 20 years since said villain's speech) and the war against bioterrorism is still ongoing since the 1990s. Worse still, even the supposed good guys are getting bioweapons of their own to combat bioterrorism, ensuring that the proliferation of bioweapon will never end.

* It's a common theme in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series that the war against bioterrorism is hopelessly futile, exemplified through multiple series mainstays having crisis of confidence upon realizing that they're no closer to stopping it than when they started decades ago. Both Leon and Chris turn alcoholic throughout the course of their careers to cope with it; Chris quit the force outright to spend his time getting drunk prior to the event of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', while Leon neglects his work to do the same during the event of ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta''. This is even brought up as a plot point during ''Anime/ResidentEvilDeathIsland'', with the main villain delivering a ReasonYouSuckSpeech to every major series protagonist for failing to make any lasting impact throughout their long crusade. As of the latest chronological game in the series, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'', the timeline has moved well into the late 2030s (over 20 years since said villain's speech) and the war against bioterrorism is still ongoing since the 1990s.

* It's a common theme in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series that the war against bioterrorism is hopelessly futile, exemplified through multiple series mainstays having crisis of confidence upon realizing that they're no closer to stopping it than when they started decades ago. Both Leon and Chris turn alcoholic throughout the course of their careers to cope with it; Chris quit the force outright to spend his time getting drunk prior to the event of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', while Leon neglects his work to do the same during the event of ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta''. This is even brought up as a plot point during ''Anime/ResidentEvilDeathIsland'', with the main villain delivering a ReasonYouSuckSpeech to every major series protagonist for failing to make any lasting impact throughout their long crusade. As of the latest chronological game in the series, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'', the timeline has moved well into the late 2030s and the war against bioterrorism is still ongoing since its start in the 1990s.

* It's a common theme in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series that the war against bioterrorism is hopelessly futile, exemplified through multiple series mainstays having crisis of confidence upon realizing that they're no closer to stopping it than when they started decades ago. Both Leon and Chris turn alcoholic throughout the course of their careers to cope with it; Chris quit the force outright to spend his time getting drunk prior to the event of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', while Leon neglects his work to do the same during the event of ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta''. This is even brought up as a plot point during ''Anime/ResidentEvilDeathIsland'', with the main villain being motivated by the heroes' failure to actually challenge the status quo. As of the latest chronological game in the series, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'', the timeline has moved well into the late 2030s and the war against bioterrorism is still ongoing since its start in the 1990s.

* It's a common theme in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series that the war against Bioterrorism is hopelessly futile, exemplified through multiple series mainstays having crisis of confidence upon realizing that they're no closer to stopping it than when they started decades ago. Both Leon and Chris turn alcoholic throughout the course of their careers to cope with it; Chris quit the force outright to spend his time getting drunk prior to the event of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', while Leon neglects his work to do the same during the event of ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta''. This is even brought up as a plot point during ''Anime/ResidentEvilDeathIsland'', with the main villain ranting that the heroes have only ever managed to maintain the status quo. As of the latest chronological game in the series, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'', the timeline has moved well into the late 2030s and the war against bioterrorism is still ongoing since its start in the 1990s.

* It's a common theme in the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series that the war against Bioterrorism is hopelessly futile, exemplified through multiple series mainstays having crisis of confidence upon realizing that they're no closer to stopping it than when they started decades ago. Both Leon and Chris turn alcoholic throughout the course of their careers to cope with it; Chris quit the force outright to spend his time getting drunk prior to the event of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', while Leon neglects his work to do the same during the event of ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta''. This is even brought up as a plot point during ''Anime/ResidentEvilDeathIsland'', with the main villain ranting that the heroes have only managed to maintain the status quo. As of the latest chronological game in the series, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'', the timeline has moved well into the late 2030s and the war against bioterrorism is still ongoing since its start in the 1990s.