This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Everyone Knows The Ending launched as Foregone Conclusion: From YKTTW
Andrew: I'm inclined to delete the paragraph about happy endings. We covered it in the YKTTW thread: this trope specifically does not include works where the ending is just predictable.
Duckluck: For the John Dies at the End example, I don't want to spoil the ending, but perhaps we're operating under different definitions of "end," or something?
Big T: The following has nothing to do with this trope. What's the foregone conclusion? Most people seemed to have not known about that the plot was not going to feature a Reset Button.
- The 2009 Star Trek film seems at first glance to be a simple retelling of the long-established story of Kirk's days at the Academy. Then Time-travellers kill Kirk's father on the day of his birth, wipe out half of Starfleet, and destroy Vulcan and wipe out 99% of the Vulcan race, and the entire timeline takes a different turn as a result.
Vilui: Edited the paragraph about Shakespeare's original use of the phrase. I don't think I've explained it as well as it could be, but at least it's an improvement on the completely wrong idea that was there previously.
