History CriticalExistenceFailure / Literature

* Because of his condition, Arhys in ''Literature/PaladinOfSouls'' is able to charge the enemy encampment and kill a number of sorcerers, taking major wounds to no apparent effect, until abruptly falling over dead. [[spoiler:He [[DeadAllAlong died several months earlier]], and is kept upright and moving through a magical link with his half-brother and wife; any blows to his body become wounds shared between the two of them. He "dies" when the link is severed to prevent further injuries from killing his half-brother and wife.]]
* ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'' has a passage about the Starship Titanic which undergoes a "gratuitous total existence failure" almost immediately after being launched. An unusual case in that it didn't take any damage; it was apparently ''built'' with 0 hp.
* "[[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Deacon%27s_Masterpiece The Deacon's Masterpiece]]" also known as "The Wonderful One-Horse Shay" by Oliver Wendell Holmes. This 1858 poem makes the trope OlderThanRadio and may be the UrExample. It deconstructs and parodies by pointing out that any construction -- in this case, a horse-drawn carriage -- tends to have weak points that gradually break one at a time and require replacement. The titular deacon, a TrueCraftsman, decides to do better: he builds every part of the carriage with such high quality that it will not wear out for 100 years. It works: his incredible shay endures a century with no maintenance at all. Unfortunately, it cannot last forever, and the deacon was so precise that his work lasted 100 years ''to the second.'' When the time is up, ''every single part'' of the one-horse shay breaks ''at once''. One moment, the driver is perched on the famed carriage; the next, the poor man is surrounded by busted debris.
--> ''You see, of course, if you're not a dunce,\\
How it went to pieces all at once, --\\
All at once, and nothing first, --\\
Just as bubbles do when they burst.''
* In the end of the last novella of ''[[Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho The Stranger]]'' by Max Frei, the car that brought the heroes home falls apart. Max has just learned that magical cars have no inherent speed limit and drives it far faster than the chassis or the roads were designed for. For hundreds of kilometres. The scene may have been a nod to ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', which gave the [[CriticalExistenceFailure trope image]].
* Literature/TheDresdenFiles:
** In ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', Harry's BadassLongcoat gets hit with this trope. [[FairyGodmother The Leanansidhe]] transforms it into a suit of Conquistador armor for the final fight. When Harry gets home and takes it off, her magic wears off and it reverts to its normal appearance, with the amount of damage it sustained in the battle causing it to instantly crumble to dust and leather scraps.
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* ''[[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Deacon%27s_Masterpiece The Deacon's Masterpiece]]'' aka the wonderful one-horse shay. Possibly the ur-example. The poem is about a one-horse shay built with absolutely no weak points - so when it finally did break down, it suffered this trope.

** In ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', Harry's BadassLongcoat gets hit with this trope. [[FairyGodmother The Leanansidhe]] transforms it into a suit of Conquistador armor for the final fight. When Harry gets home and takes it off, her magic wears off and it reverts to its normal appearance, the amount of damage it sustained in the battle causes it to instantly crumble to dust and leather scraps.

** [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier Ghouls]], are man-eating cheap muscle for the supernatural world. The novel ''Literature/WhiteNight'' had a pack of "Ice Age" ghouls who were bigger and stronger, fiercer and more bloodthirsty. They even looked a lot meaner. And they could stand up to gunshots and evisceration with no problem, and they even reassembled themselves after being dismembered. The solution? Disintegrating them worked out pretty well, though it was hard enough to do it to one, so killing them en masse needed high explosives. ''[[StuffBlowingUp Lots]]'' [[StuffBlowingUp of high explosives.]]

* From Literature/TheDresdenFiles, you have [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghouls]], who are man-eating cheap muscle for the supernatural world. The novel ''Literature/WhiteNight'' had a pack of "Ice Age" ghouls who were bigger and stronger, fiercer and more bloodthirsty. They even looked a lot meaner. And they could stand up to gunshots and evisceration with no problem, and they even reassembled themselves after being dismembered. The solution? Disintegrating them worked out pretty well, though it was hard enough to do it to one, so killing them en masse needed high explosives. ''[[StuffBlowingUp Lots]]'' [[StuffBlowingUp of high explosives.]]

* Because of his condition, Arhys in ''[[Literature/{{Chalion}} Paladin Of Souls]]'' is able to charge the enemy encampment and kill a number of sorcerers, taking major wounds to no apparent effect, until abruptly falling over dead. [[spoiler: He [[DeadAllAlong died several months earlier]], and is kept upright and moving through a magical link with his half-brother and wife; any blows to his body become wounds shared between the two of them. He "dies" when the link is severed to prevent further injuries from killing his half-brother and wife.]]
* ''Life, The Universe, And Everything'' has a passage about the Starship Titanic which undergoes a "gratuitous total existence failure" almost immediately after being launched. An unusual case in that it didn't take any damage; it was apparently ''built'' with 0 hp.

* In the end of the last novella of ''[[Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho The Stranger]]'' by Max Frei, the car that brought the heroes home falls apart. Max has just learned that magical cars have no inherent speed limit and drove it far faster that the chassis or the roads were designed for. For hundreds of kilometres. The scene may have been a nod to ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', which gave the [[CriticalExistenceFailure the trope image]].

* In the end of the last novella of ''[[Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho The Stranger]]'' by "Max Frei" the car that brought the heroes home falls apart. Max has just learned that magical cars have no inherent speed limit and drove it far faster that the chassis or the roads were designed for. For hundreds of kilometres. The scene may have been a nod to ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', which gave the [[CriticalExistenceFailure the trope image]].

* ''Life, The Universe, And Everything'' has a passage about the Starship Titanic which undergoes a "gratuitous total existence failure" almost immediately after being launched.