History Main / EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce

*** Unfortunately...[[spoiler:they might all just be a diversion so the most dangerous villains can succeed in their plans in owning the Earth. Even the First Evil is possibly just a giant diversion. Said Villain? An omnipresent...evil law firm that also specializes in loans and other businesses. Apparently, they basically already took over the world for all practical purposes.]]

* In ''TheFifthElement'', evil stops on by every 5000 years and only has to win once to wipe out all life in the Universe. If you are ever the saviour, try not to screw it up.

* ''MortalKombat'' is mentioned in the trope description but it is actually a subversion. By the time the events of the original game play out (after being [[RetCanon RetCanon'd]] by the movie), not only has evil already won once, but has been doing so for the past 500 years or so. The tournament that is being documented by the game is actually the tenth such tournament following a string of nine victories by current champion Goro. If the Earthrealm fighters fail to crown a champion of their own in this tournament, Shao Kahn and Outworld has free reign to invade and conquer Earthrealm. So in ''Mortal Kombat'''s case, it's "Evil Only Has To Win Ten Times...But This Is The Tenth Time".

'''In some stories, this won't happen.''' In some stories, [[TitleDrop Evil only has to win once]] in order to [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt permanently turn]] the [[CrapsackWorld world into a crapsack]] VillainWorld with absolutely no [[EarnYourHappyEnding hope of being deposed]]. Heck, if the villain is an OmnicidalManiac [[ApocalypseHow there won't be]] a world to save.

* ''MortalKombat'' is mentioned in the trope description but it actually is a subversion. By the time the events of the original game play out (after being [[RetCanon RetCanon'd]] by the movie), evil has not only already won in the past, but has been doing so for the past 500 years or so. The tournament that is being documented by the game is actually the tenth such tournament following a string of nine victories by current champion Goro. If the Earthrealm fighters fail to crown a champion of their own in this tournament, Shao Kahn and Outworld has free reign to invade and conquer Earthrealm. So in ''Mortal Kombat'''s case, "Evil Only Has To Win Ten Times...But This Is The Tenth Time".

* ''MortalKombat'' is mentioned in the trope description but it actually is a subversion. By the time the events of the original game play out (after being [[RetCanon RetCanon'd]] by the movie), evil has not only already won in the past, but has been doing so for the past 500 years or so. The tournament that is being documented by the game is actually the tenth such tournament following a string of nine victories by current champion Goro. If the Earthrealm fighters fail to crown a champion of their own in this tournament, Shao Kahn and Outworld has free reign to invade and conquer Earthrealm. SO in ''Mortal Kombat'''s case, "Evil Only Has To Win Ten Times...But This Is The Tenth Time".

* ''MortalKombat'' is mentioned in the trope description but it actually is a subversion. By the time the events of the original game play out (after being [[RetCanon RetCanon'd]] by the movie), evil has not only already won in the past, but has been doing so for the past 500 years or so. The tournament that is being documented by the game is actually the tenth such tournament following a string of nine victories by current champion Goro. If the Earthrealm fighters fail to crown a champion of their own in this tournament, Shao Kahn and Outworld has free reign to invade and conquer Earthrealm.

* Non-plot variant in ''UnrealTournament'': in Assault mode, the match consist of two rounds, one defense and one offense. It doesn't matter which team you're on and what the tutorial says, you MUST win both rounds or else you'll lose. There's no draw.

* In {{MAR}}, the world hasn't been living the best of times because, while the Chess didn't lose the first fight, the good also didn't win, and the leader of the bad team escaped, so the world's been living in fear of the Chess rising again. Doesn't help that their captain (not the leader though) was a zombie and the world was told that he'd be back after a while, so they've been living in fear for the second War Games to start, which is where the story catches us.

* This seems to be the case in the world of TheWheelOfTime series. Over aeons, [[HistoryRepeats The Pattern endlessly repeats itself]], and the same heroes end up being reincarnated to fight the forces of the [[{{Satan}} Dark One]]. When the forces of Light win, the Dark One goes back to being SealedEvilInACan. If the Dark One ever wins, the Pattern will be destroyed, ending the cycle permanently.
* Roland of TheDarkTower is seeking the aforementioned Tower to save it. [[spoiler:He's also stuck in a StableTimeLoop and must repeat his adventure over and over, meaning he has to save the Tower numerous times. In comparison, [[BigBad the Crimson King]] only needs to win once to destroy reality and plunge all its denizens into the primordial chaos.]][[/folder]]

* In TheFifthElement, evil stops on by every 5000 years and only has to win once to wipe out all life in the Universe. If you are ever the saviour, try not to screw it up.

AsLongAsThereIsEvil, good must rise to the challenge and defend the world. Beating the BigBad will maintain the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil and keep the world safe. Good doesn't always win however, whether it's [[YouCantThwartStageOne Stage One]] of the EvilPlan or in the final battle, heroes do occasionally lose. In these cases the old heroes, or a group of new ones, must again rise to challenge the bad guys, usually with better results.

[[/folder]]

* Subverted by [[GodwinsLaw Hitler]] and his claimed "thousand-year Reich" (January 30, 1933 - May 8, 1945).
** Not really. But if the Axis powers had somehow won WorldWarII it ''may'' have been a RealLife example of this.
** Umm, Hitler doesn't fit this trope at all. He did win once - in fact he won many times, in both political and military confrontations - but still eventually lost in the end. Also, even if the Axis won World War II, it would not have necessarily been "game over" for everyone else.
** WWII gave birth to a somewhat more metaphorical evil: Hawkishness in the atomic age. If the diplomats, the pacifists, and the nuclear watchdogs had failed even once… [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Boom]].
*** Of course, part of the NightmareFuel of said Hawkishness is recognizing that it is in fact a terrifyingly [[NecessarilyEvil necessary evil.]] There is also the opposite edge of the blade: being cowed by that threat into submission. Suffice it to say that had the free world not managed to walk the dangerously thin tightrope between being overaggressive and thus triggering the apocalypse and being too complacent and allowed (say) the USSR to walk all over them, the results would have been dire indeed. With the choice between a dystopia and AfterTheEnd.
**** YourMileageMayVary. Quite a lot of people in Russia and across the world were rooting for the USSR (at least for its continued existence, if not its victory), and quite a lot of the "free world" was composed of pro-American dictatorships that were not particularly loved by their people.
***** [[GodwinsLaw The same was true in WWII,]], but that in and of itself did not change the reality that while the West was far from blameless, the enemy was much, *much* worse (which considering the sort of things that happened says a *lot*).

** The trope is generally in use however, with the sheer number of villain plans that would if successful destroy the world, unleash hell on Earth, etc.

* RogerZelazny subverts this for "ANightInTheLonesomeOctober". The initial assumption is Pretty well justified, as the Evil in this case is the entire collection of Lovecraftian {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. But it is revealed in an offhand way that Good has lost before, albeit not in recorded history, and the lead character has contingency plans in case Good loses again.

* Subverted by [[GodwinsLaw Hitler]] and his claimed "thousand-year Reich" (January 30,1933-May 8, 1945).

*** Of course, part of the NightmareFuel of said Hawkishness is recognizing that it is in fact a terrifyingly [[NecessarilyEvil necessary evil.]] There is also the opposite edge of the blade: being cowed by that threat into submission. Suffice it to say that had the free world not managed to walk the dangerously thin tightrope between being overaggressive and thus triggering the apocalypse and being too complacent and allowed (say) the USSR to walk all over them, the results would have been dire indeed. with the choice between a dystopia and AfterTheEnd.

*** Wellllll, not quite. The widow, between the time she filed suit and the time things got to the Supreme Court, had remarried to an abolitionist member of Congress from Massachusetts, who found out that his wife owned the most famous slave in the world from the newspaper- and way too late to stop the suit from proceeding. After the decision came down, he would have freed him immediately, but he couldn't, because Scott came from Missouri and only a resident of Missouri could emancipate him. The Congressman shoved Scott on a Missouri family that had owned Scott many years prior, and they freed him a whopping two months after the Supreme Court ruling. The Congressman didn't even attempt re-election.

** [[HumanityOnTrial You may indeed be correct.]] But [[RousseauWasRight I cannot]] [[AsLongAsThereIsOneMan accept that.]] [[HumansAreSpecial We have sentience,]] which [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway is basically Heart:]] [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower It allows us to reason out how to]] [[JusticeWillPrevail win, someday.]] [[CosmicHorrorStory Despite us being, as far as we know,]] [[AbsentAliens alone in the universe,]] [[HumansAreFlawed despite human flaws and failure]] [[EvilFeelsGood and the allure of evil,]] [[TheDeterminator humanity as a whole has managed to progress in the face of every issue history has given us.]] [[EarnYourHappyEnding We're still here, and the future can be better.]]
*** [[SlowClap *clap* *clap* *clapclapclapclapclap*]]

*** Unfortunately...[[spoiler:they might all just be a diversion so the most dangerous Villains can succeed in their plans in owning the Earth. Even the First Evil is possibly just a giant diversion. Said Villain? An omnipresent...evil lawfirm that also specializes in loans and other businesses. Apparently, they basically already took over the world for all practical purposes.]]

* RogerZelazny subverts this for "ANightInTheLonesomeOctober". (the initial assumption is Pretty well justified, as the Evil in this case is the entire collection of Lovecraftian {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. But it is revealed in an offhand way that good has lost before, albeit not in recorded history, and the lead character has contingincy plans incase good loses agian.)