History Main / SadBattleMusic

* The Stampede from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKSsLEYc1xs You know what we're talking about.]]

* The Stampede from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OpVbFciTfI You know what we're talking about.]]

* The Stampede from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m-42ek85G4 You know what we're talking about.]]

** In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper:Broly'', [[spoiler: this occurs in the latter half of Broly's fight with Gogeta, as he gets the crap beaten out of him and about to lose his life to the fusion.]]

[[folder:Anime]]

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' episode 25, Krillin and Gohan fight Nappa to a sad fighting theme. Averted in the Western dub, where it is replaced with a more action-y theme.

* ''Manga/OutlawStar'': Episode 20 features a solemn harmonica track called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th2GuqIevXI "Breeze"]], which plays as [[spoiler: Jin unknowlingly battles to the death with a girl he's fallen in love with]].

* [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer "Slayer's Elegy"]], which plays over the fight between the Master('s minions) and the white hats in [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E9TheWish "The Wish"]] as we watch AlternateUniverse versions of all our favorite characters die helplessly, often at each other's hands.
* ''Series/GameofThrones'' uses [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1frgt0D_f4 ''The Night King'']] during the Battle of Winterfell, [[spoiler:when it appears that the Night King and the White Walkers are about to win.]]

*** In mission 24, the fight against [[spoiler:the sabotaged [[SpacePlane Arkbird]]]] is set to [[https://youtu.be/hkCMVsGy8Kk?list=PLB5A294C912C49005 a gradiose, yet mournful theme]], serving to underscore the tragedy of its current predicament: [[spoiler:being corrupted from a majestic symbol of peace into a pitiful superweapon of mass destruction by the [[ConflictKiller Grey Men]], all for the sake of [[LetsYouAndHimFight prolonging the war between Osea and Yuktobania]].]]

* ''VideoGame/AHintOfATint'' has "sorry", the theme for the battle between Tyalline and [[spoiler:Jezebel]], after [[spoiler:she tricked her into betraying her vows to the Bee Queen, through offering Tyalline the chance to see her long-thought-dead human beloved, without telling her he's become a desiccated Vampire]]. It's also tragic for [[spoiler:Jezebel, because she knows Tyalline is fated to die along with the rest of Flesh of the Tail in the flood of blue water, and only manipulated her to ensure her own race would survive this apocalypse through a deal she struck with the first humans]].

** [[spoiler:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nvelCV1wuE "One Who Spins Samsara"]] - the True Final Boss theme]] in the "Nirvana" DLC.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZatAtW0wRk This piece]] from {{VideoGame/Ehrgeiz}}'s quest mode, which is rather jarring, considering the game.

** The music for the battle against [[spoiler:Slave Knight Gael]] begins as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xggWJLgN-Es a sad piano piece]] accompanied by a OneWomanWail, emphasizing the tragedy and futility of the fight as the two of you, [[spoiler:possibly [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the last beings alive in the world]]]], kill each other for tiny fragments of a long-lost power. [[spoiler:The music becomes much more intense once Gael TurnsRed, which is also when you notice that Gael now bleeds Blood of the Dark Soul - the only thing that can paint the new world, which may finally be better than what you have waded through for all three games.]]

* ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPJUQg_U5HY&list=PL9A3ABDEAD72720E8&index=18 Maiden Astraea]], the subtle, hapsichord-heavy theme that is unlike every other boss music in the game. It also very much reflects the nature of the level, as [[spoiler: the Maiden has become an Archdemon only in order to heal the Depraved Ones in the Valley of Defilement, and so she never fights you, and repeatedly asks you to leave at the start of the level. As you make your way towards her, you are duelled by her bodyguard, knight Garl Vinland, who is very much human and sane. Once you defeat him, Maiden Astraea simply commits suicide so that you can take "your precious Demon Soul" off her.]]

* ''VideoGame/HitogataHappa'' has the track "The price of playing with fire - paid in full" for the stage 4 boss. It's a solemn piece with a violin playing the melody complemented by a flute and church bells for percussion.

* The fight against the final boss of ''VideoGame/IAmStillAlive'' Act One,[[spoiler:Chance]] has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVttj49XU5c "Alone" and its short intro, "The Last Fight"]] for the first phase. It's somewhat upbeat, showing just how determined both Emily and her opponent are- but this only makes it all the more sad once you realize that both potential outcomes of the fight are tragic. Either [[spoiler:Chance, a man who lost his home, his wife, all of his friends (or so he believes,) and his daughter, will die]], or [[spoiler:his daughter's tormented soul will continue to suffer for an eternity, and Chance will be even more hopeless and guilt-ridden than before]].

** To a lesser extent, the song that plays for the fight against [[spoiler:Lyght's deranged mentor, Grand Paladin Egon]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-08cF7hg_I "To Battle"]], is a mixture of an intense orchestral battle theme and a melancholy violin/choir duet. It emphasizes how powerful [[spoiler:Egon]] was before losing his sanity, without glossing over the tragedy of his descent into madness. It doesn't help that his "Diagnosis" flavor text reflects on the irony of his nickname, [[spoiler:"Unbreakable Egon"]], and the fact that he inflicts a status effect on himself called [[spoiler:"Unbreakable"]] in one last desperate attempt to protect his Queen. This is made even 'more' tragic when it's later revealed that the Queen he was trying so hard to protect [[spoiler:was actually the one he was attacking with an axe- Emily]].

* ''Videogame/NuclearThrone'' the final boss first form theme. [[spoiler: The second form has the snippet of the main theme instead]].

* In ''WebComic/{{Homestuck}}'', John and Rose's duel with Bec Noir [[spoiler:over the corpses of their dead parents]] is set to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u--wSgeJUOs At The Price Of Oblivion]], which is a track about as bleak as it sounds. [[spoiler:Not that it lasts for very long, though - [[MusicalisInterruptus the music abruptly cuts out]] when John is killed.]] It gets better if you listen to the [[spoiler:full version of the song in the album... where it ends in the flash, the full version goes into what is possibly one of the most epic action songs in history.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO_D6A31og4 "OMORI"]], the theme for the FinalBattle: [[spoiler:a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind between Sunny and Omori, with the latter attempting to get the former to [[DrivenToSuicide kill himself]]]].

** ''[[VideoGame/SaGa3 Final Fantasy Legend III]]'' has [[spoiler:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI2-atMBx_8 Ending Sol's Demise]]]]. It plays over the first phase of the final battle, in which the named character refuses to attack and begs the party to kill him.

* ''VideoGame/SaGa2'' plays one of the sad songs during a boss fight (instead of one of the battle themes) which occurs immediately after an important NPC dies.

* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza 1}}'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8LZ2GqzOSA "For Who's Sake"]], the final boss theme for Akira Nishikiyama which empathizes on the grief of him and Kiryu. It gets a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hl6KNY10ZA much more dramatic remix]] in the Kiwami remake.

** It's almost a series standard for ''Yakuza'' final bosses to have this (and sometimes they're not even the only one): since the series deals heavily in the AntiVillain and TragicVillain tropes, even the more pulse-pounding boss themes will often have a segment where the mood dips into melancholy. It's almost easier to list the ones that ''aren't'' sad:
*** ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'' has a final boss for each protagonist, and each gets a distinctly non-sad theme: Majima gets "Archnemesis", a tension-filled, imposing track fitting for a fight against the ruthless hitman Lao Gui, while Kiryu has "Two Dragons", an powerful metal song perfectly suited to Keiji Shibusawa, one of the most manipulative and cold-blooded villains in the series.
*** ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'' has "The Way Of Life", a song that underscores both the nature of the fight as Kazuma Kiryu's final bout and the sheer smackdown you're laying on the sociopathic, childishly cruel Tsuneo Iwami.

** [[spoiler: Asgore's]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcamjcoRmrQ battle theme.]] It's not as sad-sounding as most examples on this list, but is a lot more serious than the silly and whimsical boss themes the player has gotten used to, with a subtle air of melancholy about it, and fits the far more solemn nature of the fight. This fits his reluctance of fighting for his people, but he has to soldier on if that's what it takes for him to bring hope to his people from getting out to the underground that they retreated in.
** [[spoiler:Toriel's]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypvg1WC-m-Y battle theme]] that plays at the end of the first dungeon and is notably called "Heartache" on the OST. Rather appropriate, given that [[spoiler:Toriel is trying to stop the player, who she grew to admire upon their meeting, from leaving the ruins and risk getting killed by Asgore. But the player needs to leave to progress the story, and they may even end up (accidentally) killing their friend instead of sparing Toriel several times until she gives in and lets you go.]]

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' holds the world record for the most original music tracks in a game (over 1300), but these are surprisingly rare. Examples include when you are fighting [[WhenTreesAttack Solak]]. "Guardian of the Grove mvt.1" is still mostly traditional fanfare or threatening music, but bridged by a LonelyPianoPiece segment. "Guardian of the Grove mvt.2" additionally features a OneWomanWail. "Love Bites" which unlocks during the boss battle against [[OldFlame Zenevivia]] is also a sad and bitter piece featuring the OminousPipeOrgan.

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' holds the world record for the most original music tracks in a game (over 1300), but these are surprisingly rare. Examples include when you are fighting [[WhenTreesAttack Solak]]. "Guardian of the Grove mvt.1" is still mostly traditional fanfare or threatening music, but bridged by a LonelyPianoPiece segment. "Guardian of the Grove mvt.2" additionally features a OneWomanWail.

* The uptempo version of The Lonely Man that plays in the opening of ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk''. Though not used in a battle per se, it did display quite a bit of the destruction that David Banner caused in his Incredible Hulk state.

%%
%%Scenes of the carnage of war, an intense battle sequence, often accompanied by the deaths of some characters, (in %%SlowMotion, most likely) FightingYourFriend, or even war in general, often are accompanied by melancholy music. %%When feelings of hopelessness begin to take over, you can expect the music and mood to reflect that.

Instead, they might eschew those tropes in favor of letting the tragedy unfold as {{Red Shirt}}s and beloved characters meet their maker during a LastStand, and what better way to underscore the drama by playing the exact opposite of HotBlooded battle music? To better reflect the feelings of hopelessness experienced by the losing side, the futility of a conflict, the broken psyche of a character in the middle of a [[HeroicBSOD mental breakdown]] amidst the chaos, or even the [[WarIsHell horrors of war itself]], melancholy music is used to broadly communicate those to the audience; dramatic slow motion and muted sounds are pretty much expected to appear in live-action works.

* Halfway through the final boss fight of ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'', the music [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdWkZOo-p0M&t=2m11s turns to this]] [[spoiler:as the [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan titular]] [[LeakingCanOfEvil knight]], through brief moments of clarity from the [[ThePlague Infection]], repeatedly and viciously stabs itself in an attempt to help you kill it.]] [[spoiler:The music for the ''true'' final boss is all action, though.]]

*** In mission 24, the fight against [[spoiler:the sabotaged Arkbird]] is set to [[https://youtu.be/hkCMVsGy8Kk?list=PLB5A294C912C49005 a somber, but determined theme]], serving to underscore the tragedy of its current predicament: [[spoiler:being corrupted from a majestic symbol of peace into a superweapon of mass destruction by the [[ConflictKiller Grey Men]], all for the sake of [[LetsYouAndHimFight prolonging the war between Osea and Yuktobania]].]]

*** In mission 24, the fight against [[spoiler:the sabotaged Arkbird]] is set to [[https://youtu.be/hkCMVsGy8Kk?list=PLB5A294C912C49005 a somber, but determined theme]], serving to underscore the tragedy of its current predicament:[[spoiler:being corrupted from a symbol of peace into a superweapon of mass destruction by the [[ConflictKiller Grey Men]], all for the sake of [[LetsYouAndHimFight prolonging the war between Osea and Yuktobania]].]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', in the battle against JENOVA Life. The music that plays is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIqKWLkm2-g Aeris' Theme]], because [[spoiler:Aeris was killed by Sephiroth moments earlier]]

*** Even one of the final battle themes fits here. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQtatbUFy-8 A Funeral Of Flowers]] plays during the final battle of the Church Route, [[spoiler: where Rhea suddenly loses control of herself and goes berzerk, has to be put down. It's a mercy kill of an ally you'd thought you saved. Fittingly, it's incredibly sad, and the battle version is actually more subdued than the map version.]]

* It'd be easier to count the boss themes in ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' that ''don't'' have an air of sadness to them. Of particular note are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcMAHY4DFW8 Grandma (Destruction)]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlYAIALi_xU Emil (Despair)]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKOM3lNFajE Song of the Ancients (Atonement)]], more fast-paced, actionized versions of slower, more solemn/wistful themes from the original ''VideoGame/{{Nier}}'' that play during moments such as [[spoiler:a grieving 9S losing his mind after having to fight hostile copies of 2B, a battle against against Emil's clones, who've been driven to insanity and nihilism after thousands of years of living, and Devola and Popola's HeroicSacrifice to buy 9S time to hack the entrance to the Tower]].