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Yes. That powerful and evil beings insist on causing destruction even as they die is an unfortunate habit.
A boss-type monster whose destruction causes the location to self-destruct (see Collapsing Lair). Usually results in a scene after the final battle wherein the player must make a hasty escape before the clock runs out.
Always seems a bit too contrived, though Terry Prachett suggested in his first Discworld novel The Colour of Magic that this phenomenon was due to entropy (having been frightened away by the Cosmic Horror boss) making up for lost time. Or perhaps the lair simply has No Ontological Inertia.
Can be justified by some form of Dead Man Switch.
Examples:
Videogames
- The Metroid series is very fond of this trope, initially using it for final bosses but lately just as often with the Warmup Boss instead. In Metroid Fusion, the self-destruct had already been activated, and you needed to win the battle before the time runs out. In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, there's two final bosses, one that's load bearing and one that you fight during the escape. Metroid Prime: Hunters includes an escape timer after every boss except the final, seemingly just because that's how Metroid works; there's absolutely no indication of what the hell you're running from, since you later revisit the exact same places you were running out of and they're perfectly fine.
- Metroid II for the Game Boy avoided this trope; when you killed the Queen Metroid you simply had to make your way to the surface at your own pace and reenter your ship.
- Strangely enough, in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Samus herself gets a load bearing Hypermode when she lands on Phaaze. She has to not only FIND and KILL Dark Samus, but also Aurora Unit 313 before time runs out and she becomes wholly corrupted.
- Often occurs around the middle of the game in the Final Fantasy series.
- In Final Fantasy VI, defeating Kefka in his final form results in the collapse of his tower as the protagonists escape. Although, to be fair, the tower was made of magically combined junk and trash isn't known for its ability to hold together in a safe form all by itself.
- Final Fantasy IX has an unusual twist on this trope, the Evil Forest that your airship crashes into after the introduction turns to stone after defeating its core. In a subversion, one of the Tantalus bandits doesn't make it out in time.
- Play straight with on Empress of Wind, Barbaricca/Wind Element Fiend, Valaris in Final Fantasy IV and The Tower of Zot.
- The final boss in Cobra Mission activates a series of bombs as he dies. His Evil Laugh echoes through the cut-scene as the heroes escape.
- Ganondorf in Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, complete with a rather elaborate escape from the fortress.
- Ganondorf destroys the castle "with his last breath", I'm guessing out of spite.
- This also provides the location for the final battle against Ganon, on the ruins of the former castle.
- From a gameplay perspective, it also happens toward the end of Mario And Luigi Superstar Saga, after Cackletta's ghost is defeated. Storywise, another character had rigged the castle with a Time Bomb.
- All of the original Mega Man games, though usually without the "escape the fortress" level.
- In the online game City Of Heroes, this is revisited in the "Hess Trial", which references a lot of classic tropes. The final mission of a series takes place inside an active volcano, on dinky walkways suspended above a sea of lava, in which a Humongous Mecha stands ready for launch. The final boss, a cybernetically-enhanced army officer (and the only one capable of piloting the Megatech) causes the base to inexplicably self-destruct upon his defeat, prompting the involved heroes to flee with mere seconds to spare...
- This is actually also very dangerous for groups that haven't done the mission yet, due to the way the engine displays those type of messages. They jump onto the screen then fade out one at a time, and finishing the mission triggers a large stream of them: "Mission Completed!" "Badge Earned!" "Level Up!" "1:00 to escape!" "Enhancement Found!" Leading to memorable "Wait what was that last one" moments before a mad dash to the exit.
- Inverted in The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind; the final boss, Dagoth Ur, is functionally immortal and, if killed, simply resurrects immediately and attacks you again. The only way to defeat him is to destroy his lair. Played straight in Oblivion; when you kill Big Bad Mankar Camoran, his otherdimensional "Paradise" dies with him. But then, he did create it after all.
- Likewise, in Resident Evil 4, during your final battle with Krauser, he activates his time bombs, which only gives you three minutes to beat him and escape.
- Not to mention that the final battle ends in you escaping on a jet ski while the entire island explodes for some reason.
- This one is given a lampshade. When Leon matter-of-factly tells his charge that they have to get off the island before it explodes (He's been in this kind of game before), she answers with , "It's going to what?"
- In No One Lives Forever, one of the encounters towards the end of the game, while not much of a boss fight, has a strong element of this. The vanquished foe has previously ingested a liquid, timed explosive, forcing Cate Archer to conduct a swift evacuation of the area in which the battle takes place.
- Dracula, in the Castlevania series, is a classic, and possibly the most famous, example of a Load Bearing Boss. When defeated, Castlevania, his lair, will almost always crumble, usually ending with the hero(es)/heroine(s) standing on a nearby cliff watching the castle fall. Possibly justified, as the two are mystically connected -- doing it in reverse (sealing off the castle and then killing Dracula) is how Dracula was Killed Off For Real.
- In Cave Story, beating the final boss will cause this, but beating the Bonus Boss will stop it.
- A variation: after the final battle in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (which is against a former ally who betrayed you, rather than against the Big Bad), the Big Bad shows up and then runs away again, stopping only to set some explosives that will destroy the building, giving you just enough time to escape. The mechanics of the mission fit this trope (you fight the Boss, then have to escape before the building is destroyed), but the explanation is different (in that there actually is an explanation).
- The Nightmare Before Christmas's Oogie Boogie's defeat leads to his manor being destroyed in Kingdom Hearts. To be fair, Oogie had somehow merged with his manor.
- Defeating Vaati causes the castle to start collapsing in The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap.
- Master Archfiend Zoma in Dragon Warrior III, and Necrosaro in Dragon Warrior IV.
- Zoma's case is a little odd, since later, in Dragon Quest 1, Castle Charlock is still standing. Even if a new castle was constructed on the site, how would Dragon Lord have known the original layout given that he was a hatchling when it originally fell?
- "Dorothy" from Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2.
- As Andross is defeated in the Star Fox series, the area in which the fight takes place explodes, forcing the player to escape. In 64, this is complete with Andross yelling, "If I'm going down I'm Taking You With Me!" At this point, James McCloud shows up and you have to follow him through a maze to get out again - make a wrong turn and you'll get caught in the explosion.
- Defeating Myria in Breath of Fire III causes her space station to collapse.
- Mario, from Dead Baby Comedy-filled I'm O.K.
- Neo X from Streets of Rage 3.
- The Master from Fallout triggers a bomb on a countdown timer that will destroy his base. You could also trigger the bomb yourself and run away cackling like a little sadistic schoolgirl as an alternative to dealing with the Master.
- Upon the defeat of Bio-Haz in Great Greed, his castle collapses and the heroes escape in a balloon. Shortly afterwards reoccuring boss Sarg is defeated, his hideout collapses as well.
- Defeating the Golden Diva in Wario Land 4 causes the golden pyramid to sink into the ground as Wario escapes with the treasure.
- Defeating Mundus in Devil May Cry causes the collapse of the entirety of Millet Island.
- Defeating Dr. Robotnik at the end of most of the Sonic The Hedgehog Sega Genesis games.
- In Chrono Trigger, defeat of Magus and Lavos Core creates a time warp which consumes the surrounding environment. Also, defeat of Queen Zeal destroys The Black Omen.
- Actually, Zeal has already gained the power of Lavos via the Mammon Machine, and is effectively timeless and immortal. Once she realizes that she cannot defeat you with the power she has on hand, she summons Lavos and merges the Omen with him, leading to a Boss Rush since the Black Omen exists in all times, even before its creation. You never actually beat her, but once you defeat Lavos, she is denied her source of power.
- Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door has a load bearing ally. You fight the boss in his fortress and nothing happens, but once you see the Almost Dead Guy ( Actually a computer) kick the bucket, the place starts falling apart around you.
- In Ico, the moment the final boss is killed, her entire castle, and the thousand-foot-high outcropping of rock it stands on, immediately crumbles into the sea for no discernable reason during an extended cutscene.
- Subverted weirdly in Suikoden II: After defeating the final boss, the Beast Rune Incarnation, L'Renouille begins to rumble violently. Your hero is semi-literally dragged out of the throne room by one of his generals to keep from rushing into search for his Ho Yay Bishounen "childhood friend" Jowy (I haven't an idea what happens here if you leave your respectable characters at home and bring a party of, for instance, Meg, Gadget, and 3 squirrels to the final battle. Perhaps General Mukumuku is the one to convince the Hero he must choose his nation over his friend). Anyway, once the non-Timed Mission cutscene ends of everyone escaping... nothing happens to the castle and it still stands. However, the rumbling could conceivably have just been from the Beast Rune's unearthly death roar.
- Fire Emblem is no exception as this also happens in Path of Radiance when the Black Knight is beaten. This editor knows at least a couple people who were more irritated by the fact that the giant pile of rubble meant there was no seeing the face beneath the helmet than any real danger to the characters.
- He gets better in the sequel, so that you can kill him again, this time with the reveal, though without the load bearing duties.
- Every level in Descent 1 and 2 requires you to destroy a reactor or boss robot, starting the countdown.
- This troper is interested that Half Life 2 wasn't mentioned. After you disable Dr. Breen's teleporter, it explodes in a reality ripping manner. Of course it does this almost immediately afterward, leaving no time for escape. The only reason you survive is because of the G-Man's timely intervention. No Collapsing Lair level until the Episode 1 expansion, though.
- In Quake II, after the final boss Makron is defeated in the level Final Showdown, the space station where it is staged blows up as soon as the protagonist, the Marine, escapes in Makron's escape pod.
- Romeo Guilderstern in Vagrant Story. Since he had stolen the key to Lča Monde's power, and subsequently became its focus, his defeat ripped the Dark loose from the city's foundation. When Ashley inherited the Bloody Sin, he became the bearer of the Dark, and the ravage of time and decay that had been kept at bay for centuries suddenly swept into the ancient city.
- The last boss of Neverwinter Nights 2 is holed inside an ancient ruin, which his destruction inevitably causes to collapse. Unusually, the game doesn't leave the player a chance to escape, but just cuts to the credits.
- The expansion lampshades this, providing the above quote.
- When The Sleeper is killed at the end of Gothic, his underground lair collapses around him - unfortunately, The Hero is still inside. (This does set him up nicely for a With This Herring moment in the sequel.)
- In La Mulana, defeating Mother causes the ruins of La-Mulana to collapse. Which makes sense, since the ruins are the body of Mother, and the five-tier boss that you took down is her soul.
- Averted in Tomb Raider 1 and Anniversary, where it's actually destroying the scion (load-bearing artifact?) that makes Atlantis collapse, and the fight with Natla is done while it is collapsing (Anniversary seems to be far less explicit about this for some reason). Played straight in Tomb Raider 2, where killing the Big Bad and getting the Dagger somehow makes a big portion of the Great Wall explode in the ending. Played straight again in Tomb Raider 4 The great pyramid suddenly starts falling apart after Horus/Set is sealed, although in this case it's an important part of the ending
- Played in various ways (mostly straight) in Metal Slug 3. In the last level, a particularly large Mook Walker can only be fired upon from underneath; defeating it means you then have to avoid being crushed as its legs give out and its upper portion falls to the ground. One of the minibosses, a humongous, bolt-firing brain, brings down the house with its defeat. The rest of the level is spent escaping from the mothership as it collapses (harmlessly) around you. Then you fight the brain again, liberated, as it tries to Mind Rape you and your tank.
- In Tales Of Symphonia defeating the boss, Winged Dragon causes its flying nest to fall apart and drop into the ocean. The Mad Scientist responsible for sending you there knew about this, and used a trap that uses Colette's Life Energy to create an Ominous Light that threatened to
engulf us keep everyone on the Collapsing Lair.
- On a lesser note, the first two times you take down a Desian Grand Cardinal, Raine activates their Lair's Self Destruct system- destroying it.
Other
- Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash has a rare example of Load Bearing Boss without a Collapsing Lair. Raven, a big mutant Aluet has a hydrogen bomb he carries around with on a motorcycle sidecar. It's hooked up to an implant that sends the detonation signal if his heart stops. (This, combined with his incredible fighting skills and use of undetectable glass knives, leads the main character to label him "The Baddest Motherf**ker in the world")
- Literary subversion: In Captain's Fury, fourth book of the Codex Alera series, one of the villains has managed to tie the ongoing calmness of a volcano in his homeland to his own survival via magic. Rather than waiting for the volcano to go boom upon the villain's eventual defeat, his rival Gaius Sextus actually uses this to defeat the villain in the first place him by blowing the volcano up on top of the still-living villain, burying him and his entire capital city in volcanic ash a la Pompeii.
- Literary example: In The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis (one of the Chronicles of Narnia), the death of the Lady of the Green Kirtle causes not just her fortress, but her entire underground kingdom to be destroyed. The protagonists speculate that she had used sorcery to ensure this would happen as a means of posthumously avenging herself on her killer.
- Cinematic example: Krull, though this is also a case of No Ontological Inertia.
- Referenced on Homestar Runner, in Strong Bad Email #173, "the paper
 ". Strong Bad is seen on a sinking island, and says to himself "How is this island sinking? I didn't even kill any end bosses!"
- Literary and film example: the destruction of the One Ring in The Lord Of The Rings causes both the death of Sauron and his Dark Tower to collapse. In the film, Peter Jackson made it even more extreme -- the entire land of Mordor collapses into a pit.
- Movie example: when Dr. Merrick is killed in The Island (2005), the holographic projectors are destroyed. This allows the inhabitants of the underground facility/prison escape into the real world.
- Black Mage of Eight Bit Theater finds this idea to be completely ridiculous (of course the universe doesn't care what he thinks).
- Invoked in the Web Comic Casey And Andy: Quantum Crook holds sterotypical Evil Overlord Mulligan as hostage to cover his escape. When the confused main characters ask why they should care about him killing their archnemesis, Quantum Crook explains this trope to them.
- In the Forum Community/MMORPG Gaia Online, one NPC Builds an enormous tower that inexplicably collapses after he is shot from miles away by a Black Cloak Sniper. Like most of the Gaia Online storyline, this didn't make much sense, but looked really cool.
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