Does Not Illustrate: Cruel Twist Ending

Cruel Twist Ending is where something is spontaneously revealed in the last few minutes/pages to be incredibly cruel to the characters. The image just forces a bad ending to be mean, which is Diabolus ex Machina. It does not show a Twist Ending, which would be something like the main character finding out that he was bitten previously and is now cursed to become a vampire, the first vampire was just one of many, he just hallucinated defeating the vampire, etc.

Opened...I can get behind the argument.

Does it fit under Not Quite Saved Enough?

Perhaps. The vampire apparently wins by producing a new ability (to stretch his body) out of the blue. That's pretty much a textbook case of Diabolus ex Machina, though it's not immediately apparent from the image alone.

I struggle to see the differences between Cruel Twist Ending, Diabolus ex Machina and Sudden Downer Ending.

edited 5th Aug '15 2:37:00 PM by eroock

There is room for overlap, but they're not identical. A Twist Ending changes our perception of elements in a story that were believed to be true in order to shock the audience. It's not just anything unexpected that happens at the end.

If the hero defeats the villain and is then suddenly shot by a completely unrelated character who didn't appear before, it's a Diabolus ex Machina.

If the hero defeats the villain and then finds out that the villain was actually a misunderstood figure who was holding back a monster that would destroy the world, it's a Cruel Twist Ending.

For Sudden Downer Ending, a Diabolus ex Machina doesn't necessarily have to happen at the end, just like Deus ex Machina.

edited 5th Aug '15 2:52:55 PM by Morgenthaler

Well, the way I see them is:

• Diabolus ex Machina: Something happens to screw the protagonists over and the bad guys win. It's not necessarily an Ending Trope, as it can often introduce the final challenge for the heroes. Or even earlier.
• Sudden Downer Ending: A downer ending in a work you wouldn't expect a downer ending if you consider the tone of the rest of the series. Can still be reasonably logical.
• Cruel Twist Ending: Basically a mix between the two above, but doesn't require the tone in the rest of the work to be so light that a downer ending is unexpected. It's a bad ending for the sake of a bad ending, logic be damned. Sometimes literally.

^ That definition of Cruel Twist Ending seems in line with the message of the current image. If I understand Morgenthaler correctly, Cruel Twist Ending needs a further element of irony/tragedy to apply.

That sounds more like Karmic Twist Ending, which is very comparable, with the difference that Cruel Twist Ending lacks the karma. The point is that it isn't some kind of karmic or otherwise suitable ending. It's just a cruel ending for the sake of being cruel.

^^ Not quite. My argument was that a Twist Ending, in order to qualify as a reveal, has to reveal something, not merely lack foreshadowing; that would just make it an Ass Pull and/or any of the Ex Machina tropes. In this case that's the vampire suddenly being able to stretch his body like a cobra. That's not actually clear from the image, which makes it a weak illustration (a caption can help there). DEM, if I'm understanding the description and Duck's explanation correctly, is also something that ensures the villain(s) win, while CTE is more generally anything cruel for the sake of being cruel.

Then there's whether this particular image best illustrates Cruel Twist Ending, Diabolus ex Machina, or Not Quite Saved Enough. I'm more in favor of 3 than 1 or 2 as the scenario is specific enough (hero is safe, but then the monster kills them anyway with heretofore unrevealed powers). Even if we decide to keep this on CTE at the very least it needs a better caption to explain that the vampire can stretch his body, and preferably a quality swap without the crease on the left side.

edited 6th Aug '15 4:00:35 AM by Morgenthaler

Bump. Anyone else for moving this to Not Quite Saved Enough as a better illustration for that trope?

That's fine.

Moving.

Move it.

Don't forget that the most important part of a cruel twist ending is to have a Hope Spot close to the ending before the villain unexpectedly returns and crushes all hope for the protagonist by killing them or giving them a Fate Worse than Death.

Clock is set.

Re-clocked to see if there's any more consensus for the suggested move.

I'm all for the move.

Move it.

Bump. Do we have enough consensus for the move to Not Quite Saved Enough?

Yep, let's do it.

The image has been moved and the pages tagged. As there's been no alternative suggestions for Cruel Twist Ending this entire thread, I think we're better off shelving this one.

Agreed; locking up.