History Fanfic / DespairIsland

* PublicExecution: A variant, in which it's part of a [[SadisticGameShow broadcasted]] DeadlyGame, and eliminated contestants are subjected to this unless they have a Life Idol on hand.[[spoiler:..or so we're lead to believe. [[TheEndingChangesEverything In reality, it's not actually being broadcasted in public as it's being recorded illegally to be sold in the black market under the Canadian government's noses.]]]]

* PublicExecution: A variant, in which it's part of a [[SadisticGameShow broadcasted]] DeadlyGame.[[spoiler:..or so we're lead to believe. [[TheEndingChangesEverything In reality, it's not actually being broadcasted in public as it's being recorded illegally to be sold in the black market under the Canadian government's noses.]]]]

* SoleSurvivor: The game is billed as one where only the winner will survive, with the other contestants executed as they are eliminated. The trope is subverted, however, because several others survive for various reasons, including the use of the Life Idol mechanic, which saves the user from an execution the moment it's used.

* SoleSurvivor: The game is billed as one where only the winner will survive, with the other contestants executed as they are eliminated. The trope is subverted, however, because several others survive for various reasons.

''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10295140/1/Despair-Island Despair Island]]'' is a ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' fanfiction by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4311772/Knifez Knifez]]. It is a reimagining of the series' first season ''Total Drama Island'', but with a much darker tone and much higher stakes.

* TheStationsOfTheCanon: This Season 1 remake has the same challenges in the same order as the canonical season it reimagines.

* IronMaiden: [[spoiler:Cody]] is stuffed inside of one as his method of execution, [[spoiler:[[DeathByIronyshaped shaped like a beautiful woman, to boot.]]]]

* BearsAreBadNews: DJ is brutally mauled by a bear, leaving him horribly maimed and in dire pain.

** [[BigBad Chris [=McLean=]]] is this as he was in canon, [[AdaptationalVillainy but is now even worse]]. The host of ''Total Drama Island'', now a DeadlyGame, Chris orders 24 teens kidnapped and forces them into his game, having the campers endure humiliating challenges and gruesome executions. He takes active enjoyment in their suffering, makes cruel jokes at their expense, and only cares about ratings. So despicable is he that, when he is [[spoiler:finally thwarted]], Bridgette punches and kicks him in the face, and [[spoiler:he later gets killed in his cell]], and everyone agrees [[AssholeVictim he deserves it]].

* IronMaiden: [[spoiler:Cody]] is stuffed inside of one as his method of execution.
* MercyKill: [[spoiler:DJ is unanimously voted off by the Killer Bass (including by himself) to relieve him of his suffering after he is brutally mauled by a bear.]]

* SnuffFilm: Snuff reality show, actually.

** [[spoiler: Duncan]] debatably as well as he [[spoiler: accidently murders a cameraman and [[DeadPersonImpersonation takes his place to survive.]] Unlike all of the above, he is able to live to see the end of the game.]]

''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10295140/1/Despair-Island Despair Island]]'' is a ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' fanfiction by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4311772/Knifez Knifez]]. It is an alternate retelling of the original first season, but with much higher stakes.

What if, when people are voted off, instead of being taken to Playa de Losers[[note]]canonically a luxury hotel where eliminated contestants stay until the finale[[/note]], they are murdered... brutally? Now, the twenty-two original competitors, forced into a DeadlyGame by the sadistic host [[BigBad Chris McLean]], are in a fight for their lives, where they have to scheme, double-cross, and backstab each other in order to win and stay alive.

* AbortedArc: The author originally intended the story to cover three season, with the canonical ''[[NewSeasonNewName Revenge of the Island]]'' contestants in the second season and the canonical ''Pahkitew Island'' contestants in the third. Abandonment of this conceit in favor of a one-season story resulted in several storylines, such as the role of the contestants saved by a Life Idol, being cut short, rushed to completion or dropped entirely, sometimes at the expense of story cohesion. The author later posted a [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11618927/6/What-If one-shot]] describing how a season two would have played out.

* ActOfTrueLove: [[spoiler:Geoff giving Bridgette his life idol to save her instead of himself because he loves her and cares more about her safety than himself.]]

* GovernmentConspiracy: [[spoiler:Respected high-ranking government official Jonathan Gavrilovic is able to secretly kidnap 22 teenagers, produce a highly illegal DeadlyGame show, and hire criminals to produce said show, all with the help of his connections to the Serbian mafia.]]

** [[BigBad Chris [=McLean=]]] is this as he was in canon, [[AdaptationalVillainy but is now even worse]]. The host of ''Total Drama Island'', now a DeadlyGame, Chris orders 24 teens kidnapped and forces them into his game, having the campers endure humiliating challenges and gruesome executions. He takes active enjoyment in their suffering, makes cruel jokes, and only cares about ratings. So despicable is he that, when he is [[spoiler:finally thwarted]], Bridgette punches him, and [[spoiler:he later gets killed in his cell]], and everyone agrees [[AssholeVictim he deserves it]].

* ShipTease: Geoff/Bridgette, as well as some minor Duncan/Courtney and [[spoiler:Heather/Alejandro]].

Can be found [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10295140/1/Despair-Island here]].

* NonGameplayElimination: Several contestants die under circumstances other than being formally eliminated and executed. These circumstances include challenge hazards ([[spoiler:Trent]], who fell face-first on a mine, and [[spoiler:Alejandro]], killed by the Psycho Killer with the Hook and Chainsaw during the challenge after accidentally setting him off]]), suicide ([[spoiler:Heather]], who drowned herself- [[AmbiguousSituation supposedly]]), and being killed whilst attempting to escape ([[spoiler:Harold, who is shot by Chris]]).

* AbortedArc: The author originally intended the story to cover three season, with the canonical ''[[NewSeasonNewName Revenge of the Island]]'' contestants in the second season and the canonical ''Pahkitew Island'' contestants in the third. Abandonment of this conceit in favor of a one-season story resulted in several storylines, such as the role of the contestants saved by a Life Idol, being cut short, rushed to completion or dropped entirely, sometimes at the expense of story cohesion.

''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/10295140/1/Despair-Island Despair Island]]'' is a ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' fanfiction by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4311772/Knifez Knifez]]. It is an alternate retelling of the original first season, but with much higher stakes.

Now has a [[Characters/DespairIsland Character Sheet]]!

* NonGameplayElimination: Several contestants die under circumstances other than being formally eliminated and executed. These circumstances include challenge hazards ([[spoiler:Trent, who fell face-first on a mine]]), suicide ([[spoiler:Heather]], who drowned herself- [[AmbiguousSituation supposedly]]), and being killed whilst attempting to escape ([[spoiler:Harold, who is shot by Chris]]).

* WhatIf: The author stated the story came to be when they asked themselves one day "What if the contestants of ''Total Drama Island'' were competing for their lives instead of money?"

* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:Duncan]], after accidentally killing a cameraman, disguises himself as the cameraman while disguising the corpse as himself in order to potentially save himself from elimination.

* TheKlutz: Tyler, like in canon, is especially clumsy and prone to having accidents and injuries, to the point that he got put into a wheelchair in the first challenge.
* TheLoad:
** Izzy (due to her craziness), Owen (due to his general uselessness in this continuity), Tyler (due to being put in a wheelchair in the first challenge), and Lindsay (due to her stupidity) are generally viewed as this.
** [[spoiler:Noah intentionally invokes this in the 'dodgeball episode' in order to get eliminated. He had found one of the life idols, and wanted out of the game as quickly as possible.]]
* MercyKill: [[spoiler:DJ is unanimously voted off by the Killer Bass (including by himself) to relieve him of his suffering after he is brutally mauled by a bear.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Justin]] is plagued by this after getting [[spoiler:Eva, Gwen, and Cody]] eliminated, to the point where he decides to stop scheming and engineering others' eliminations.
* NiceGuy: As per canon, Geoff and Bridgette remain among the kindest characters on the show, managing to keep their humanity and their heads up despite their horrific situation.

* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler:Courtney]] is guillotined after losing a tiebreaker challenge to [[spoiler:Leshawna]].
* ThePrimaDonna: Downplayed with Justin. Due to being in a life-or-death situation, he is not as whiny as he is in canon, but he still has his moments.
* PunchClockVillain: Chef, the cameramen, and the interns. None of them like doing what they have to do or seeing what Chris does to the campers, but due to all of them being convicted criminals being given a chance at a lighter sentence, they'll take what they can get.

* ShooOutTheClowns: [[spoiler:Izzy and Owen]] are canonically the show's main sources of over-the-top comedy and bring little else to the table, so they are quickly disposed of in this [[DarkFic unremittingly dark]] remake.

* WhatIf: The author stated the story came to be when they asked themselves one day "What if the contestants of ''Total Drama Island'' were competing for their lives instead of money?"
* YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler:Tyler]] is executed by being forced to hold a live grenade in his mouth.

* BigBad: Chris McLean, as in canon, is the host of Total Drama Island- which here is a DeadlyGame where Chris has the literal power of life and death over the contestants.

* ActOfTrueLove: [[spoiler:Geoff finds a life idol and uses it for Bridgette in order to get her out of the game safely.]]

* AdaptationalBadass: Justin is a lot more competent and devious than in canon, essentially taking the spot of Heather as the main villainous contestant.
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Alejandro and Sierra appear in ''Island'' as newcomers when the merge arrives.
* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Ezekiel is made [[TokenReligiousTeammate devoutly religious]] rather than just being some dweeby kid with old-fashioned views. He's still homeschooled though, and still has difficulty understanding common teen slang.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Unsurprisingly, Chris is considerably more evil here than he is in canon.
* AlphaBitch: At first, Heather acts like this, just like in canon. However, after finding out that acting like this isn't conducive to her survival, she quits.

* AscendedExtra: [[spoiler:Ezekiel makes it much further than in the season being reimagined.]]

* BigFun: Deconstructed with Owen. His happy-go-lucky personality is seen as an annoyance, and he is generally viewed as TheLoad. [[spoiler:This is what results in him being the second elimination.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Katie goes off the deep end when Sadie is eliminated, and even tries to kill Chris at one point.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: [[spoiler:Jonathan Gavrilovic, a member of the Serbian mafia who has somehow become a high-ranking Canadian government official, risks his reputation and even his liberty to produce a "snuff" reality show for the black market, even though a man with his power and connections could have made money more easily and far more safely by producing a legitimate reality show.]]

* TheDragon: Mafia enforcer Zolkoff is Chris' hired muscle. Essentially a low-grade comic book supervillain, he is noticeably overpowered for the setting.
* DrivenToSuicide: After [[spoiler:Alejandro]]'s death, [[spoiler:Heather]] is pushed to this- [[AmbiguousSituation or so it seems]].

* FaceDeathWithDignity:
** Just like in canon, [[spoiler:Harold]] leaves the game (which, unlike in canon, is a DeadlyGame) with his head held high and a smile on his face, due to his death being, as he observes, "wicked awesome".
** [[spoiler:Ezekiel and Beth]] ''try'' to do this, but ultimately both end up having appropriate reactions to their deaths.

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Jonathan Gavrilovic, a high-ranking and well-respected Canadian government official,]] is the one who funded Chris' DeadlyGame and allowed it to happen without the knowledge of [[spoiler:anyone in Canada]]. But despite his large role, he never appears in-person, and Chris serves as the BigBad who hosts and directly controls the game.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: [[spoiler:The first rescue attempt]] implodes when Zolkoff shoots [[spoiler:the helicopter pilot]] in the head despite not having a realistic angle to do so at any range close enough for his sidearm to be effective.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Jonathan Gavrilovic's role in creating ''Total Drama Island'' is never exposed after Chris' death and he remains a respected member of the Canadian government, with nobody knowing of his ties to the Serbian mafia.]]

* PsychopathicManchild: Chris, even moreso than in canon. Even the author admits they might have made Chris too psychotic compared to his canon self.

* TheSociopath: Chis, even more so then in canon, as he takes a lot of glee out of the camper's terror of the situation and in their gruesome deaths. The only time he shows any empathy is DJ's horrific fate- and he quickly gets over it.

* YouKnowTooMuch: [[spoiler:Chris]] is killed by [[spoiler:Zolkoff]] after being arrested in order to prevent him from blabbing out [[spoiler:Jonathan Gavrilovic]]'s involvement in the show's production.

* AdaptationalBadass: Justin is a lot more competent and devious than in canon.

* NonGameplayElimination: Several contestants die under circumstances other than being formally eliminated and executed. These circumstances include challenge hazards ([[spoiler:Trent, who fell face-first on a mine]]), suicide ([[spoiler:Heather]], who drowned herself- [[AmbiguousSituation supposedly]]), and being killed whilst attempting to escape ([[spoiler:Howard, who is shot by Chris]]).