History Main / UncertainDoom

** One example from the point of view of some who believe him to survive, is Fawful. In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowser'sInsideStory'', he is KilledOffForReal on account of ''mortally wounded'' and ''selfdestructed'' yet his absence from ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' actually surprised many, even causing him to make the ChuckCunninghamSyndrome page.

* The Mario series is full of them. Common death scenes for enemies is to fall off the screen or explode in a puff of smoke. But because many of Bowser's minions return after they explode, this leaves it unclear to many as to whether or not they did die. This is especially apparent in the ''Mario & Luigi'' series because defeated bosses explode at the end of the battle, leaving many to believe that any villain who exploded automatically survived (what is often overlooked is that the explosions that some bosses survive are only in battle mode, and the explosion only counts as death if they explode ''outside'' battle mode). It could be argued that any villains in the Koopa Troop can be revived, since Bowser Jr. revives Bowser onscreen in ''[[VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros New Super Mario Bros.]]''. Examples include Tatanga in ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2 Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins]]'', Smithy and his minions Mack, Bowyer, and Yaridovich in ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars]]'' (on account of appearing in the parade, which is considered non-canon), Goomba King (sent falling into a chasm), the Koopa Bros. (beaten by Jr. Troopa and vanish), many of the Super Mario Galaxy bosses, and many of the above-mentioned ''Mario & Luigi'' bosses, including Princess Shroob, Elder Princess Shroob, and Fawful (who was ''mortally wounded'' and ''selfdestructed'' yet his absence from ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam Mario & Luigi: Dream Team]]'' actually surprised many, even causing him to make the ChuckCunninghamSyndrome page).

* In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull, is disintegrated by the tesseract's power and has his remains teleported to another dimension. Although the tesseract burning through the floor of the ship seconds later should serve as an indication, there is much speculation that the Red Skull is still alive, and in Asgard somewhere, and will return.

** Subverted with King Sombra in ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E2TheCrystalEmpirePart2 the Season 3 premier]]''. When King Sombra is [[LiterallyShatteredLives shattered to pieces]] by Princess Cadance and the crystal ponies, a shot of his horn is seen leading to many that he survived and will regenerate from his horn, as he was earlier shown regenerating his horn itself when it was amputated. Meghan McCarthy, however, confirmed that Sombra was KilledOffForReal.

* From Literature/AGameOfThrones, [[spoiler:Syrio Forel]] is last seen fighting a member of the [[EliteMook Kingsguard]] while unarmored and having just had his wooden practice sword destroyed by his opponent. Though the rest of the people in Ned's employ are confirmed dead, there's been no mention either way on [[spoiler:Syrio]].

Supertrope of:

* BolivianArmyCliffhanger

* ''StargateAtlantis''; Lt Ford, who went rogue during season two, was last seen on an exploding Wraith ship. It was never explicitely said he was dead, and he never appeared in the series again.

This trope is the fate of any character who ''probably'' didn't make it, but is never actually proven dead. This can happen at any point in a story, but happens so frequently at the end that we have tropes devoted specifically for that situation. Rule of thumb: if UncertainDoom occurs at the ending of a work, it's probably a BolivianArmyEnding.

Supertrope of BolivianArmyEnding, which is when an entire work ends with {{The Hero}}es ''almost'' certainly going down in a blaze of glory, and NeverFoundTheBody. Related to OurHeroIsDead and BolivianArmyCliffhanger, with the difference being that those tropes are usually resolved with the audience finding out who's actually dead and who's still alive

* Another ComicBook/{{Batman}} case, the ''Legends of the Dark Knight'' character Cavalier chooses a Bolivian Army-esque SuicideByCop as an honorable end.

* ''MarvelZombies vs. ArmyOfDarkness'' ends with Ash [[spoiler:escaping the zombie-infested dimension via Dr. Doom's portal only to end up in a dimension inhabited by werewolf superheroes, and the last frame is a shot of them running after him. Qualifies as a BolivianArmyEnding for Ash, but the crossover is a prequel for the entire ''Marvel Zombies'' universe.]]

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has one befall a certain character at the end of the Impel Down StoryArc. [[spoiler:Mr. 2 stays behind in the eponymous prison to imitate the warden Magellan, in order to open the Gates of Justice, allowing the prison breakout to be a success. Mr. 2's deceit is discovered, and Magellan, a powerful Devil Fruit user, unleashes all his fury on him.]] A lot's happened since then, [[spoiler:including a ''second'' breakout that left Magellan defeated]], but there has been no word of [[spoiler:Mr. 2]]'s exact fate since then.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has one befall a certain character at the end of the Impel Down StoryArc. [[spoiler:Mr. 2 stays behind in the eponymous prison to imitate the warden Magellan, in order to open the Gates of Justice, allowing the prison breakout to be a success. Mr. 2's deceit is discovered, and Magellan, a powerful Devil Fruit user, unleashes all his fury on him.]] A lot's happened since then, [[spoiler:including a ''second'' breakout that left Magellan defeated]], but there has been no word of [[spoiler:Mr. 2]]'s exact fate yet.

!Examples

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': Played with. Steve and his friends are trapped by an angry mob in a van. "We're going to die," they say, "but at least we can take a few of them with us." They leap out of the van and the image freezes. The noise, however, continues, with blows landing and a cry of "We're not taking any of them with us!"

* ''{{Alien}}''. Brett and Dallas are taken by the title monster but we never see them killed nor are their bodies ever found, except in a deleted scene.
** [[spoiler: Ripley finds them- Dallas is in the process of mutating into an alien egg, and Brett has already nearly finished doing so.]]

* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' examples:

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The episode ''Trapped In The Closet'' ends with Stan, after revealing that he ''isn't'' the reincarnation of LRonHubbard and that "Scientology is just a big, fat, global scam!" getting threatened to be sued by all of his former followers, a threat Stan proudly accepts.

* ''BattleRoyale 2: Requiem''; The two male protagonists are holed up in a cellar while the Japanese Army invades the island (and with an airstrike on the way). They make peace, resign themselves to their fate, and charge out, guns blazing.[[spoiler: Subverted when they inexplicably appear later, unharmed.]]

Supertrope of BolivianArmyEnding, which is when an entire work ends with {{The Hero}}es ''almost'' certainly going down in a blaze of glory, and NeverFoundTheBody, for when a character can't actually be proven dead. Related to OurHeroIsDead and BolivianArmyCliffhanger, with the difference being that those tropes are usually resolved with the audience finding out who's actually dead and who's still alive

Supertrope of BolivianArmyEnding, which is when an entire work ends with {{The Hero}}es ''almost'' certainly going down in a blaze of glory, and NevrFoundTheBody, for when a character can't actually be proven dead. Related to OurHeroIsDead and BolivianArmyCliffhanger, with the difference being that those tropes are usually resolved with the audience finding out who's actually dead and who's still alive

Supertrope of BolivianArmyEnding, which is when an entire work ends with {{The Hero}}es ''almost'' certainly going down in a blaze of glory. Can overlap with NeverFoundTheBody, if the character's fate is left uncertain. Related to OurHeroIsDead and BolivianArmyCliffhanger, with the difference being that those tropes are usually resolved with the audience finding out who's actually dead and who's still alive

As an audience, we know that a doomed character can be saved at the last minute. There's always an EleventhHourSuperpower, DeusExMachina, or BigDamnHeroes moment to rescue them. Other times, we get an on-screen death, or even a FateWorseThanDeath. Very rarely, though, characters can be [[AmbiguousSituation left in a limbo]]; there's still a last minute, but we never see what happens after that.

This trope is the fate of any character whose ending is never told. This can happen at any point in a story, but happens so frequently at the end that we have tropes devoted specifically for them. Rule of thumb: if it is the ending of a work, it's one of the Bolivian endings.

When the audience doesn't even know if the characters are in danger, see also ChuckCunninghamSyndrome and WhatHappenedToTheMouse.

Subtropes:
* NeverFoundTheBody, when a character is announced dead, but no body is around to prove it.
* OurHeroIsDead is for the end of an episode (or just before a commercial), when TheHero is announced to be dead.
* BolivianArmyCliffhanger, when a season ends with one or more of {{The Hero}}es possibly dead or about to die.
* BolivianArmyEnding, when the entire work ends with {{The Hero}}es ''almost'' certainly going down in a blaze of glory.

* BolivianArmyCliffhanger, when a season ends with one or more of {{The Hero}}es in an uncertain fate.

* BolivianArmyEnding, when the entire work ends with {{The Hero}}es _almost_ certainly going down in a blaze of glory.

* BolivianArmyEnding, when the entire work ends with {{The Hero}}es in a blaze of glory.

As an audience, we know that a doomed character can be saved at the last minute. There's always an EleventhHourSuperpower, DeusExMachina, or BigDamnHeroes moment to rescue them. Other times, we get an on-screen death, or even a FateWorseThanDeath. Very rarely, though, characters can be left in a limbo; there's still a last minute, but we never see what happens after that.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has one befall a certain character at the end of the Impel Down StoryArc. [[spoiler:Mr. 2 stays behind in the eponymous prison to imitate the warden Magellan, in order to open the Gates of Justice, allowing the prison breakout to be a success. Mr. 2's deceit is discovered, and Magellan, a powerful Devil Fruit user, unleashes all his fury on him.]] A lot's happened since then, [[spoiler:including a ''second'' breakout that left Magellan defeated]], but there has been no word of [[spoiler:Mr. 2's]] exact fate yet.

* Played for laughs and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the [[LooneyTunes Coyote and Roadrunner]] cartoon ''Gee Whiz-zzzzzz''; as Wile E. Coyote falls for the last time, he holds up a sign asking that the cartoon end before he hits. As the screen begins to IrisOut, he holds up a second sign saying "Thank you."
* ''WesternAnimation/{{South Park}}'': The episode ''Trapped In The Closet'' ends with Stan, after revealing that he ''isn't'' the reincarnation of {{L Ron Hubbard}} and that "Scientology is just a big, fat, global scam!" getting threatened to be sued by all of his former followers, a threat Stan proudly accepts.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': Played with. Steve and his friends are trapped by an angry mob in a van. "We're going to die," they say, "but at least we can take a few of them with us." They leap out of the van and the image freezes. The noise, however, continues, with blows landing and a cry of "We're not taking any of them with us!"