History Sandbox / Tremmor19

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sandbox

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An Ambiguously Brown character is a single character with a darker skin tone that clearly stands out from most of the cast, but it's not entirely clear what race they are actually meant to be. Their heritage is never mentioned, and their [[FacialProfiling facial features]] don't correspond to any particular race either, so it's unknown. They're just brown.

This can be considered an easy way to add visual diversity to a work when the author doesn't want to deal with real world racial issues, although it could also be considered to lack real representation. '''(i think this needs to be phrased better not sure how}'''

Generally this is primarily a trope in drawn media-- most live-action characters are assumed to be the same race as the actor by default, although it could apply if there is some reason to wonder about this character specifically. For ''actors'' who are ethnically ambiguous, see PlaysGreatEthnics.

Mention-- fantasy races, diversity in appearance but not culture? i think one more paragraph here maybe

Oftentimes, this is the result of to trying avoid MonochromeCasting while having OnlySixFaces-- everyone looks the same except for coloring, anyway, it's just that this one has darker skin. Compounding this issue, while some features such as blue eyes or extremely tight curls are more racially distinctive, light brown skin + dark brown hair is found everywhere around the world, which can make it difficult to narrow down. Can also be the result of unusual skin and hair combinations, such as DarkSkinnedBlond and DarkSkinnedRedhead.

Cultural differences can come into play here as well-- Compare {{Mukokuseki}}: in principle {{anime}} characters who are supposed to be "stateless". Other times, western viewers may not realise that fully Jaanese people can have a fairly wide range of skin tones-- often the characters are meant to be fully Japanese and recognized as such in the Japanese fanbase, with the ambiguous part only coming from the point of view of non-Japanese viewers who don't realize that fully Japanese people can have dark skin. In older European works, where the population is predominantly white the word "dark" is often used to mean someone white, with [[TallDarkAndHandsome dark hair and dark eyes]].

If most of the cast is various shades of brown in a future world, it may be InTheFutureHumansWillBeOneRace. For an even more extreme version, see AmazingTechnicolorPopulation

See also ButNotTooForeign, of which this is a sub-trope, ButNotTooWhite, and MixedAncestryIsAttractive, for when a multiracial character (who may or may not be ethnically ambiguous) is seen as attractive and intriguing.

Generally this applies to drawn media, although a live action character could be ambiguously brown if there is ambigusity to the ''character'', beyond having a brown skinned actor. For ''actors'' who are ethnically ambiguous, see PlaysGreatEthnics.

Mention-- fantasy races, diversity? i think one more paragraph here maybe

Oftentimes, this is the result of to trying avoid MonochromeCasting while having OnlySixFaces-- everyone looks the same except for coloring, anyway, it's just that this one has darker skin. Compounding this issue, while some features such as blonde hair or extremely tight curls are more unusual, light brown skin + dark brown hair is found everywhere around the world, which can make it difficult to narrow down. Can also be the result of unusual skin and hair combinations, such as DarkSkinnedBlond and DarkSkinnedRedhead.

Cultural differences can come into play here as well-- Compare {{Mukokuseki}}: in principle {{anime}} characters who are supposed to be "stateless". Other times, western viewers may not realise that fully Jaanese people can have a fairly wide range of skin tones-- often the characters are meant to be fully Japanese and recognized as such in the Japanese fanbase, with the ambiguous part only coming from the point of view of non-Japanese viewers who don't realize that fully Japanese people can have dark skin. In older European works, where the population is predominantly white, the word "dark" is often used to mean someone white, with [[TallDarkAndHandsome dark hair and dark eyes]].

An Ambiguously Brown character is a single character with a darker skin tone that clearly stands out from most of the cast, but it's not entirely clear what race they are actually meant to be. Their heritage is never mentioned, and their facial features don't correspond to any particular race either, so it's unknown. They're just brown.

Oftentimes, this is the result of to trying avoid MonochromeCasting while having OnlySixFaces-- everyone looks the same except for coloring, anyway, it's just that this one has darker skin. Compounding this issue, while some features such as blonde hair or extremely tight curls are more unusual, light brown skin + dark brown hair is found everywhere around the world, which can make it difficult to narrow down in the absence of FacialProfiling. Can also be the result of unusual skin and hair combinations, such as DarkSkinnedBlond and DarkSkinnedRedhead.

An Ambiguously Brown character is a single character with a darker skin tone that cleary stands out from most of the cast, but it's not entirely clear what race they are actually meant to be. Their heritage is never mentioned, and their facial features don't correspond to any particular race either, so it's unknown. They're just brown.

Generally this applies to drawn media, although a live-action character could be ambiguously brown if the character in particular doesn't seem to have a known race. For ''actors'' who are ethnically ambiguous, see PlaysGreatEthnics.

Cultural differences can come into play here as well-- Compare {{Mukokuseki}}: in principle {{anime}} characters who are supposed to be "stateless". Other times, western viewers may not realise that fully Jaanese people can have a fairly wide range of skin tones-- often the characters are meant to be fully Japanese and recognized as such in the Japanese fanbase, with the ambiguous part only coming from the point of view of non-Japanese viewers who don't realize that fully Japanese people can have dark skin. In older European works, where the population is predominantly white and the word "dark" is often used to mean someone white, with [[TallDarkAndHandsome dark hair and dark eyes]].

Oftentimes, this is the result of to trying avoid MonochromeCasting while having OnlySixFaces-- everyone looks the same except for coloring, anyway, it's just that this one has darker skin. Generally averts FacialProfiling. Can also be the result of unusual skin and hair combinations, such as DarkSkinnedBlond and DarkSkinnedRedhead.

An Ambiguously Brown character is a single character with a darker skin tone than most of the cast, but it's not entirely clear what race they are actually meant to be. Their facial features don't correspond to any particular race either, as is often the case in highly stylized animation, so it's unknown. They're just brown.

An Ambiguously Brown character is a single character who stands out with a darker skin tone than most of the other characters, but it's not entirely clear what race they are meant to be. Their facial features don't correspond to any particular race either, as is often the case in highly stylized animation, so it's unknown. They're just brown.

Used to avoid MonochromeCasting

Link to: FacialProfiling OnlySixFaces

Cultural differences can come into play here as well-- Compare {{Mukokuseki}}: in principle {{anime}} characters who are supposed to be "stateless". Other times, western viewers may not realise that fully Jaanese people can have a fairly wide range of skin tones-- often the characters are meant to be fully Japanese and recognized as such in the Japanese fanbase, with the ambiguous part only coming from the point of view of non-Japanese viewers who don't realize that fully Japanese people can have dark skin. In older European works, where the population is predominantly white and the word "dark" is often used to mean someone white, with [[TallDarkAndHandsome dark hair and dark eyes]].

A Ship Sinking is a scene blatantly set-up to demonstrate that a particular romantic pairing is ridiculous, impossible and never, ever gonna happen.

Though many producers and writers are aware of {{Shipping}} in their respective fandoms, that doesn't necessarily mean they ''like'' it. It may be because of [[WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings the actions of the fans if they get too rowdy about it]], or they just don't like the pairing involved, or have intended the pairing to die for dramatic effect. They may have set out from the start to write two characters into a specific pairing and need to make it more obvious, or have simply decided on an alternative set of partners for the two characters in question. Whatever the reason, the creator wants to make it very clear to the audience that these two particular characters are not, and will not become, a couple.

In order to qualify as ship sinking,

* The scene must be, in some way, specifically ''about'' the characters it's sinking
* The work must contain some in-universe acknowledgement about the concept of these two as a couple, even if it's just to say "eww, no way!"

It can be a [[EtTuBrute betrayal]], [[SurpriseIncest a very sudden familial connection]], hooking up with someone else, [[DeathOfTheHypotenuse having the respective love interest kick the bucket]], really being [[LetsJustBeFriends only friends]] or [[LikeBrotherAndSister like brother & sister]], or maybe [[WordOfGay they just bring them out of the closet]].

Creators often ShipTease two characters before they sink the pairing completely, although that's not a requirement, as long as the work contains some textual acknowledgement of the idea of the pairing.

This may or may not cause fans to [[AbandonShipping abandon the ship]]-- then again, some ships refuse to sink, with the help of ludicrous amounts of ShippingGoggles or outright FanonDiscontinuity.

Related to AnchoredShip, which occurs when factors arise that preclude the characters getting into a relationship, but have the potential to be resolved. If an Anchored Ship is never resolved before a work is finished, the moment of the anchoring will become a Ship Sinking moment.


Contrast ShippingTorpedo, when a ship is sunk or attempted to be sunk by the characters, not the writers. See ThisIndexBrokeUp for tropes about breaking up relations that actually exist in the work, regardless of the fandom preferences.

Compare NoHuggingNoKissing, where romance as a whole is avoided in canon.

If you're looking for the trope where a literal sailing vessel sinks, you'll find it at SinkingShipScenario.

This may or may not cause fans to [[AbandonShipping abandon the ship]]-- then again, some ships refuse to sink, with the help of ludicrous amounts of ShippingGoggles or outright FanonDiscontinuity

Contrast ShippingTorpedo, when a ship is sunk or attempted to be sunk by the characters, not the writers. See ThisIndexBrokeUp for tropes about breaking up relations that actually exist in the work, regardless of the fandom preferences. Compare NoHuggingNoKissing, where romance as a whole is avoided in canon.

( ShipTease paragraph )



This may or may not cause fans to [[AbandonShipping abandon the ship]]-- then again, some shippers can be [[ShippingGoggles very determined]].

This may or may not cause fans to [[AbandonShipping abandon the ship]]

It can be a [[EtTuBrute betrayal]], [[SurpriseIncest a very sudden familial connection]], hooking up with someone else, [[DeathOfTheHypotenuse having the respective love interest kick the bucket]], really being [[LetsJustBeFriends only friends]] or [[LikeBrotherAndSister like brother & sister]], or maybe [[WordOfGay they just bring them out of the closet]].

* The work must contain some in-universe acknowledgement about the concept of these two as a couple, even if it's just to say "eww, no way!"

* The work must contain some in-universe acknowledgement about the concept of these two as a couple, even if it's just to say "eww, no way!"

Though many producers and writers are aware of {{Shipping}} in their respective fandoms, that doesn't necessarily mean they ''like'' it. It may be because of [[WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings the actions of the fans if they get too rowdy about it]], or they just don't like the pairing involved, or have intended the pairing to die for dramatic effect.

Myyyy sandbox

So---

I know this has been to TRS, several, several times previously, but I have a specific thing I would like to discuss

I'm not going to touch the definition for drawing and cartoon characters, but the live action and real life sections are a mess. Real people are not ambiguously brown. My suggestion is to add a strict standard for characters played by real life people--

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'''Characters in Live Action media are assumed to be the same race as the actor unless there is reason to think otherwise.''' Some possible reasons include:
* Two actors of different races play blood relatives
* A character's name, accent or clothing strongly indicates a different ethnicity than the actor
* The actors race would be impossible or highly implausible for the character (such as a Native American actor in ancient Rome)
* The actor is wearing some kind of {{Brownface}} or otherwise changing their features, but it's not clear what they're changing them ''to''.

'''A character could also be ambiguously brown InUniverse if the other characters cannot tell what race they are'''

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%% While I have this up for discussion, I would also like to suggest rewriting the definition, as it's currently 9 paragraphs long and has a lot of "note, this is actually..." "but don't forget..." which all kinda indicates being added on piece by piece. I think it could be a lot more concise and easier to follow with a rewrite

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Wick Check for Live Action TV and Film

[[folder: The actor isn't white (17)]]

* Dance Moms Kalani and Kira definitely aren't white, but they're not exactly black ether...
* TokenTrio: Fenwick (sole [[BlackAndNerdy black kid]]), CJ (AmbiguouslyBrown [[TheSmurfettePrinciple sole girl of the group]]), and Crispo (white kid)
* AmbiguouslyBrown: * The mugger (and implied rapist) whom Catwoman cuts up with her claws in the alley.
* The Series 3 finale introduces Zaf, an AmbiguouslyBrown TokenMinority. [[spoiler:The same episode kills off Danny, who was the show's dark-skinned TokenMinority]]. In the Series 6 premiere, Zaf is injuried and PutOnABus. Halfway into the same series, Ben Kaplan, an AmbiguouslyBrown journalist, is introduced.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Laura, played by Amelia Warner who curiously has white parents but is quite dark skinned herself.
* SpicyLatina: Penny, although she's more AmbiguouslyBrown. '''probably? low context'''
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Kim, the picture of her father is black and white, never zoomed in, and his name is never said so one never knows what his ethnicity is. '''again... probably?'''
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Anja has dark skin and seems like she might be part Black from her features. Her mother is White and we don't see her father, leaving it unknown if he's Black or not.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Typical for a rich school in the Philippines, there are a lot of mixed and/or racially ambiguous and/or light-skinned students. Chuck Santos is played by a half-white actor with an Anglo surname, Markus Paterson.
* AdaptationalDiversity: The first incarnation of the Angels where all three of them are minorities: Jane is black, Elena is AmbiguouslyBrown (both Creator/EllaBalinska and Creator/NaomiScott are biracial), and Sabina (the only white woman in the trio) is AmbiguouslyBi.
* He promptly instructs a blond boy to fake an Australian accent and agree with him no matter what he says, an AmbiguouslyBrown passenger to disagree with him, and a female passenger to be morally outraged, filling (what he perceives are) the roles of Chase, Foreman and Cameron respectively.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: The bad guys are led by [[spoiler:a Tunisian, with an albino (according to the Bey) as the second in command]], with a German woman (though Conrad claims she's faking it), three black guys, two gay lovers, an eastern European, and several white and AmbiguouslyBrown men.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Beck. His actor, Creator/AvanJogia, is half Indian, but the only thing we know about Beck's heritage is that he's part Canadian.
* TokenMinorityCouple: Paula, who's AmbiguouslyBrown, is secretly with Native Hawaiian Kai.
* MinorityPoliceOfficer: Gueacutedira is of north African descent, and Belkacem is AmbiguouslyBrown (the actress, Shirine Boutella, is from Algeria).
* TwoferTokenMinority: Pilar is the only woman of color in the cast, as a supporting character. She's AmbiguouslyBrown, with a name that's also ambiguous (played by a British Indian actress).
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Ryan has very dark features, slightly tanned skin and green eyes. His actor Thomas Fitzgerald is Irish with some English and Italian roots.


[[/folder]]
[[folder: Specific reason to question characters race (6)]]
* AmbiguouslyBrown: The real O'Brien is white and Irish, but is played in the show by a British actor of partial Indian and Tunisian descent (though the character, in childhood flashbacks, is also from Callan, UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}}, and those sequences are conveniently desaturated or color-shifted so we can't quite tell his parents' skin colors). In the second episode, we learn about his sister Megan, who is portrayed as an adult by Creator/CamilleGuaty, an olive-skinned Cuban/Puerto Rican actress. However, in Season 2 we finally see their parents, who are white.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Rainin Wild, who was played by a black American in-costume in his debut episode, but was replaced by a tanned Japanese man in subsequent appearances.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Mads, her actress' heritage is a mess of ethnicities/races, which is confusing as her father and brother are white.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Jezzie Pipkin is played by Cuban-American actress Creator/ElizabethPena. It's unclear whether Jezzie was meant to be Hispanic despite her surname.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Billie is played by Sarah Shahi, who's of Iranian and Spanish descent. Though the actor who plays Billie's dad appears vaguely Middle Eastern and also has an accent, while her character's mother's White, what ethnicity she was meant to be isn't clear. Their last name, Mann, is no help.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Bakuto. He has a Japanese-sounding name, but Ramon Rodriguez, who plays him, is Puerto Rican. His childhood boogeyman being [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_Man the Sack Man]] implies Latino or Brazilian heritage. In the comics, Bakuto runs a South American faction of the Hand. Of course, as ''The Defenders'' reveals, [[spoiler:he, like Davos, hails from K'un-L'un.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Character is racially ambiguous In Universe (17)]]
* Ground Floor People assume Threepeat is Chinese, but he's actually Filipino[[note]]The Philippines does have a sizable ethnic Chinese population[[/note]].
* Series/SpunOut AmbiguouslyBrown: Beckett invokes this about Nelson while they yell insults at each other.
--> "I'd make a joke about your nationality, but I don't know what it is!"
* AmbiguouslyBrown: There's a scene where Precious and Miss Weiss are talking, and Precious can't tell what ethnicity she is, and asks if she's "Italian, or black, or some type of Spanish." Not to mention that "Weiss" is usually an Ashkenazic Jewish surname and Jews of mixed race descent aren't completely unheard of. If Miss Weiss is anything like [[Music/MariahCarey her actress,]] she should be bi-racial.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Jamie. Justified as her mother cannot remember what ethnicity her absentee father was; possibilities include Greek, Russian, Hispanic and Middle-Eastern. [[note]] In case you're curious, Creator/MilaKunis was born in Ukraine to Jewish parents. [[/note]]
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Woody uses his vague ethnicity to pretend to be people from all over the world (Kayvan Novak is of mixed British and Iranian decent).
* AmbiguouslyBrown: [[invoked]] Key, who is biracial. [[PlaysGreatEthnics He uses it to his advantage]], just like he did on ''[=MADtv=]''. In fact, both Key and Peele were born from biracial families (half-black, half-white), but generally Peele tends to just play black characters, while Key has a wider range.[[note]]Mostly if he's not playing a black man, he plays Middle Eastern, Indian [both the Native American Indian and the "from India" Indian], and Hispanic.[[/note]]
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Zan, the internet personality trolling Paper Boi. {{Lampshad|eHanging}}ing this becomes a RunningGag in the episode "The Streisand Effect"; every time he's mentioned, characters ask something along the lines of "Isn't he Dominican?", "Is he Asian?", or (after he casually uses the N-word) "[[NWordPrivileges Are you even black?]]"
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Stu at first assumes that Vic is white, then hazards a number of guesses at his ethnicity, including Puerto Rican and Chinese. Vic shakes his head at all of Stu's guesses. In real life, Dave Bautista is Greek and Filipino.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Nichols has brown skin and dark curly hair. [[spoiler: This allows him to pass himself off as UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} (Middle Eastern) and the [[DeadPersonImpersonation real]] Brandon Nichols (Native American)]].
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Leslie often remarks on Ann's unclear ethnicity, which is never revealed in the show, though Creator/RashidaJones is herself half African-American and half Ashkenazi Jew.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Zach asks Creator/RashidaJones what race she is.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: This is a plot point. [[spoiler:Daphne]] is revealed to be mixed race, "a creole mother and white father" which lets her pass as white. She has a black half brother who's familial connection she hides.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Karen, to Michael at least ("Wow, you look very exotic. Was your dad a GI?"). Her last name (Filipelli) and dialogue suggest she is Italian-American. Rashida Jones is half-Black, half-Jewish.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Rex notes Lori's ambiguous ethnicity, hazarding that she's Baltic or Czech. Kunis was born in Ukraine to Jewish parents.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Schmidt's impression of Cece, before she states that her parents are Indian. Creator/HannahSimone, who plays her, is a mixture of Indian, German, Italian, Cypriot, and Greek.
* {{Jerkass}}: The Senator who gets his car stolen by Xander near the beginning. We even get his racism demonstrated [[AmbiguouslyBrown when he assumes Xander is Mexican]], so we know he's a jerk.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Lauren. She's brought up an uncle in Syria and being in the Middle East when she was younger. Everyone had different theories.
-->'''Lauren''': I'm from Long Island!
-->'''Simon''': But you're our diversity hire! If anyone asks, just say you're "other." [[labelnote:*]]For what it's worth, Amanda Setton is Jewish (Syrian Jewish on one side, and Ashkenazi Jewish on the other)[[/labelnote]]

[[/folder]]


[[folder: ZCE and misuse (10)]]

* AmbiguouslyBrown: So Elena is supposed to be Russian??
* AmbiguouslyBrown - Ray, and Tina, but their child together is clearly white.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Bryce, Tyler, and Taryn.
* At this point in the show, every named character who's black or AmbiguouslyBrown (except for [[spoiler:Anthony, Anne, and Diego,]]) has been killed. Being black on this show is like wearing a RedShirt.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first season was trying to find its legs. Florence wasn't initially a ServileSnarker (but thanks to Louise's permission, she became one), and Allan went from being AmbiguouslyBrown to straight up Caucasian.
* [[AmbiguouslyBrown Ambiguously White]]: The nun named Janet, as far as her features go.
** Subverted with Nataly Green. An implicitly French nun as seen from the montage that implied she gets off from an Air France airplane and her name (though she bears an English surname), but the actress that played her didn't look rather convincing. The actress that played Janet (who is even credited as UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette) would've pulled it off better. '''this example is confusing and probably outright misuse'''
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Averted with siblings Sue and Johnny Storm, played by Caucasian actress Kate Mara and actor Michael B Jordan. Justified since they are adoptive siblings. '''do we really need averted examples? '''
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Many characters are some form of ''mestizo'', which is TruthInTelevision, given how Filipinos generally tend to be mixed to various degrees. Antonio Luna himself was apparently one of the less mixed ones (a point of contention with his older brother, Juan, the artist, who was acquitted of the murders of his wife and mother-in-law in Paris on effectively racist grounds—i.e., that his ''indio'' (native) race was predisposed to such anyway). '''if they are specifically mixed in universe theyre not ambiguous...'''
* Jesus, however, looks incredibly Caucasian, thought He [[ButNotTooWhite may have a tan]] or be AmbiguouslyBrown. It's hard to tell with the lighting. '''im not sur where to put this'''

[[/folder]]

* A character's name or clothing strongly indicates a different ethnicity than the actor

'''Characters in Live Action media are assumed to be the same race as the actor unless there is reason to think otherwise.'''
Some possible reasons include:

Wick Check for Live Action TV and Film

Wick check for live action TV and Film



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%% While I have this up for discussion, I would also like to suggest rewriting the definition, as it's currently 9 paragraphs long and has a lot of "note, this is actually..." "but don't forget..." which all kinda indicates being added on piece by piece. I think it could be a lot more consice and easeier to follow with a rewrite

* A character's name strongly indicates a different ethnicity than the actor

myyyy sandbox

Has only 14 wicks, and the definition seems very open to interpretation- it does not require any kind of in-universe acknowledgement that the character survived through an extremely improbably situation, which leaves it open to audience reaction "I don't think this character should have lived" examples

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wick check (all 14+ on page examples)

[[folder: Character should not have survived, In Universe acknowledgement (5)]]
* In ''Film/TheSuicideTheory'', Percival has tried repeatedly to commit suicide, even going so far as to hire a hit man on himself, but he survives a fall from a building onto a car, a savage beating, and three point-blank shots to the head during the course of the movie, plus any number of failed suicide attempts offscreen.
* The ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode "Dead Again" features a fellow who manages to survive three murder attempts, including being shot point blank in the head. Unlike the Bride, he's perfectly fine pretty much right afterwards except for having a few drops of blood there.
* The first story on [[http://unicornjelly.com/urulesmystories.html this page]] describes a player whose character was at ground zero of a suitcase nuke explosion. He convinced the GM to grant him a one-in-a-million shot at survival. The room exploded with cheers when this trope came to life.
* In the creepypasta story "Quantum Immortality", the laws of probability prevent the main character from dying, even of old age; every bullet turns out to be a dud, he throws up an overdose of pills, he "miraculously" survives one accident after another, and he just keeps getting older and older... all because the titular phenomenon means that if there is even the tiniest chance he will survive in any alternate universe, he ''will''.
* CosmicLotteryWinner: It's a bit fuzzy on exactly ''why'' [[spoiler:having his heart torn out and being banished to a Hell dimension]] doesn't kill him. There's been a HandWave from WordOfGod that it has to do with [[spoiler:his nature as the Scion of Balance]], but that's it. There's a discussion about this on the WMG page. '''(but very complainy)'''
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Character should not have survived, audience reaction (4)]]
* In ''Half Life: Full Life Consequences: Free Man'', John Freeman, after being stabbed in the back, riddled with machine gun bullets and hit with a rocket, gets up to keep fighting the combine.
* In ''Film/PulpFiction'', two characters are fired upon from only a few feet away. The shooter empties the gun. They are completely unharmed. A little later in the scene, when they move away, you can see bullet holes in the wall behind them.
* In ''Film/KillBill'', the Bride is shot point-blank in the head. She's in a coma for a few years, and it takes some time (read: a few hours, where it should take months) to recover full motor control. But otherwise, she suffers no ill effects.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork 2'', Lan is exposed to hundreds of thousands of rads of radiation. Even with a good radiation suit, that should have killed him, and quickly. It's so egregious that it crosses into ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics, never mind CosmicLotteryWinner.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: used to mean "Very Lucky" in general (3)]]
* In ''FanFic/ThisBites'', through all his TarotTroubles during [[spoiler:the battle against Baron Omatsuri]], Basil Hawkins sees this with Luffy, as no matter how he shuffles his deck, all the cards representing hope and victory end up at the top and the one representing disaster ends up on the bottom.
* CosmicLotteryWinner: Mellowlink is ''insanely'' lucky, even described as such during the final episode. However, unlike Chirico [[spoiler: he doesn't have a milennia-old supercomputer backing him up, nor does he have a HealingFactor beyond that of a normal person.]]
* CosmicLotteryWinner: Ganondorf should have been killed during his execution. Zelda sending Link back in time at the end of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' gave Ganondorf the Triforce of Power, making him NighInvulnerable. His goal was to get the Triforce and he was stopped before he could even start, but he got it anyway.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Misuse or ZCE (2)]]
* ''Film/RogueOne'': Chirrut walks through a firefight unscathed to reach a plot vital switch on a panel right out in the open, despite a literal army trying to shoot him. However it is strongly implied that in the ''Star Wars'' universe, making yourself a Cosmic Lottery Winner is one of the basic abilities of Force users. '''(this has an in uviverse explanation, its the force)'''

* CosmicLotteryWinner: It's her mission to make this a common thing.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life Examples (5)]]
* Around three thousand people died on the morning of September 11, 2001 when the towers fell. Pasquale Buzzelli was on the 22nd story when they collapsed. He awoke several hours later on top of debris with only minimal injuries.
* A fighter pilot in in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII lost his parachute and had to jump from a burning plane at around ten thousand feet. A while later, German patrols found him unconscious on top of a snow pile, with just a twisted ankle. He later received praise from his German captors at a POW camp.
** Even better real life example Vesna Vulović, who survived a 33,000 foot fall from an exploded plane in 1972. She was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down but later recovered enough to be able to walk.
* Tsutomu Yamaguchi had the misfortune of being in Hiroshima about a mile from ground zero when the first atomic bomb was dropped. He survived and returned to his home in ''Nagasaki'' the following day to recover from the serious burns he had sustained. A few days later he was, again, about a mile from ground zero when the ''second'' atomic bomb was dropped. Tsutomu Yamaguchi lived to the age of 93, passing away from stomach cancer in early 2010, although at 93 years of age such a cancer could never be linked to the events of 50 years ago.
* [[http://www.cracked.com/article_17573_7-fatal-injuries-that-people-somehow-survived.html These]] [[http://www.cracked.com/article_16497_7-people-who-cheated-death-then-kicked-it-in-balls.html two]] Website/{{Cracked}} articles describe a few more.
[[/folder]]

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I suggest Cut as it is not doing very well

[[Misuse or ZCE (2)]]

[[/folder]]

myyyy sandbox

Spun off from [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16343113800A23179400&page=1 This Thread]] in Trope Talk

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That thread was trying to figure out what ShipSinking actually means. There were a few attempts to come up with a clear definition-

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16343113800A23179400&page=2#comment-38

''' "a scene blatantly set-up to demonstrate that a ship is ridiculous"''' (Tropers/{{Adept}})

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16343113800A23179400&page=2#comment-44

''' "a moment which specifically exists to make it clear that two particular characters are not, or will not become, a couple."'''

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16343113800A23179400&page=3#comment-51


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'''WICK CHECK'''

I also did a wick check to figure out how ShipSinking is being used currently- I found that, off-page, it was actually mostly used as a pothole, like "Alice and Bob are flirty until Bob's death in s3 sinks the ship". So I also took 40 random examples from the subpages, since those are easier to identify how theyre being used

I also found this was often being used as sort of, the opposite of ShipTease. Like, if ship tease is ''"45 reasons Bob and Alice should be together"'', then ShipSinking is being used as ''"45 reasons Bob and Alice should '''not''' be together"''

------

[[folder: one character rejects the other's advances '''(9)''']]
* Recap/CodePrimeR1Rebellion33SettingTheStage: Shirley finally confesses her feelings to Lelouch, only for the revolutionary to gently turn her down (due to not having feelings for her), but still considering her as a close friend.
* Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS01E04CharlieHasCancer ShipTease: A flashback shows a Christmas party where Dee approaches Mac with mistletoe...[[ShipSinking only for Mac to accidentally punch her.]]
* Characters/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaMac IncompatibleOrientation: He has a thing for Dennis, who is at least ostensibly straight and outright tells Mac that [[ShipSinking it's never going to happen]].
* Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho064TheNextLife: The Doctor very clearly tells Charley to stop yearning for him. It's fine that they love each other, but on a friendship level only.
* Recap/TotalDramaUpTheCreek ShipSinking: Cody agrees to leave Gwen alone for the time being as long as Trent makes her happy.
* Webcomic/GirlsNextDoor ShipSinking: The Paris arc pretty much takes Erik/Christine off the table, with Christine's official stance being that although she has (''very'' complicated) feelings for Erik, Raoul is the person she can be herself with rather than just TheMuse and for that [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan among other reasons]] she chooses to be with him. Erik, after a lot of angst and being led into temptation by Jareth, [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy eventually comes to terms with this]] and not long after is seen with his Buildingverse-canon CrossoverShip.
* Tsundere/Webcomics Colette Pickman in ''Webcomic/OwMySanity''. Unfortunately, David has too much GenreSavvy and not enough patience for the tsundere approach, leading to a ''harsh'' ShipSinking[=/=]TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
* In ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', the ToyShip of Nigel and Coney was first sunk when he and Catherine Aura went back in time at the end of the [[MillenniumBug [=Y2K=]]] storyline, raised when they returned to deal with Rudy's webcomic, and sunk again when the two of them [[PutOnABus left for the human world to maintain the balance]]. While Nigel still harbors feelings for Coney, his mother does not allow him to contact her and hopes he will forget about her.
* In ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie'', Sara broke up with Daphne for reasons including, though not limited to, wanting to get with Lucy, her RealityShow costar. However, Lucy eventually made it clear she wanted to be JustFriends.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: pairing is overtly mentioned in canon but does not happen for whatever reason '''(8)''']]
* VisualNovel/YamiToBoushiToHonNoTabibito ShipSinking: Nothing quite kills a ship like [[spoiler:giving birth to the person you're in love with. Hazuki giving birth to Eve is what will happen in the show's future.]]
* ShipSinking: Not all of Danny's dates are winners, and only a few he has no desire to even be friends with.
** Cree Lincoln seemed nice, but her beating up children caused Danny to reject her immediately.
* GhostsOfThePast/TropesQToZ ShipSinking: The author does so in chapter 56 via having Harry act as a ShippingTorpedo to Clark/Lana, without Lana even appearing on-screen. Specifically, Harry points out that Clark's own account, Lana has never demonstrated overt romantic interest in him, has a boyfriend [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold (Whitney)]] who Clark admits is good to her, which therefore indicates that Clark is WrongGenreSavvy about their relationship - he sees them as StarcrossedLovers, when in fact he's more a DoggedNiceGuy who risks breaking Lana's heart by effectively attempting RelationshipSabotage by making her choose between him and Whitney. Seemingly confirming this is the way Clark is rather ashamed when Harry puts it to him like this.
* Characters/TheStalkingZukoSeries BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: When Katara kisses him, as she does at the end of Book 3, he's disgusted, and realizes that it's not what he wanted, with this being [[ShipSinking the last straw that ends his crush on her]].
* [[spoiler: Billy and Karen (though they had a mutual attraction in Season 2) get sunk early in Season 3, as Karen stays loyal to her ineffectual husband Ted while Billy gets possessed by an EldritchAbomination. It’s also explained Billy’s [[LikesOlderWomen attraction]] to Karen stems from his MissingMom, ''also he dies''.]]
* In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E22GraduationDayPart2 Graduation, Part 2]]", Wesley and Cordelia (who have been infatuated with one another since they met) finally kiss. The kiss is awkward enough to wipe out half a season's worth of chemistry, and when the two of them end up on ''Angel'' together, they hardly ever so much as flirt again and they end up with a LikeBrotherAndSister relationship.
* ''Webcomic/GeneralProtectionFault'' sunk any chance of Nick/Trudy not only by having Nick get together with Ki, but by having him permanently reject her after learning of her plans in Surreptitious Machinations ("I can't love someone I can't trust.") Todd gets this twice, with a grown-up Sidney in the BadFuture (who stays behind to let him go back in time, getting captured and executed), and [[spoiler:an amnesiac Mischief]], ([[spoiler:who regains her memories while forgetting her feelings for him]], much to his dismay).
* Lelouch/[[ActionGirl Kallen]]: Sunk late in the second season after many {{Ship Tease}}s and {{Moment Killer}}s, when [[spoiler:Kallen pours her heart out to Lelouch, and he doesn't respond at all, standing there with a blank look on his face, which leads her to believe that he doesn't care]]. In Kallen's character poem, which came with the DVD, she states that if he had said he loved her, even if it had been a lie, she "would even follow [him] to hell", and acknowledges that this is probably the reason he didn't answer her. Given that he was about to [[spoiler:embark upon the path to world domination, only to have himself assassinated to facilitate world peace]], it makes sense he'd want to distance himself from her.
* ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' sinks nearly every single ship involving Shinji, after delivering piles of ShipTease for them. [[spoiler:The "first" Rei is considered to be dead, and neither Shinji nor her clone are interested in a relationship; Asuka confesses to Shinji she used to like him, but she moved on because of Bardiel and the TimeSkip (however her flustered reaction towards Shinji's later admission indicates that she never moved on from her feelings for him in the first place despite everything and the reason for claiming otherwise in her confession is up to debate), and Shinji later admits he liked her as well back then; and Kaworu gets over his feelings]]. By the end, Shinji might have possibly hooked up with [[spoiler:Mari Makinami]] of all people, albeit depending on individual interpretation.
* ''Soul Edge'' sank the Seong Mi-na/Hwang pairing during her ending for that game, when she runs away from home and leaves a note for her father saying [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt4UT19xkoc "marrying Hwang wasn't for her."]] By the following game, ''Soulcalibur'', her father was trying to wed her to another of his students named Kim, which angered Mi-na, causing her to run away from home again. From ''SCII'' onward, her father took the hint and let it drop. ''SCII'' through ''SCIV'' also sink the possibility of [[ShipToShipCombat rival naval vessel]] Mi-na/Yun-seong, as Mi-na [[CoolBigSis interacts with him in a sisterly manner]] and an official relationship chart in the fourth game (and ''Broken Destiny'') strictly defines their relationship as platonic.
* The first half heavily implies at a future romance between Cyanide and Skids. Then the author took a closer look at them, [[CreatorBacklash decided that they actually weren't compatible]], and hooked Cyanide up with the female Ronnie. To clear away any doubt, Skids says outright that Cyanide isn't his type, is revealed to have a long-time crush on Harley (which is ultimately futile, as Harley is happily with Mikhael), and is [[LastMinuteHookup paired up with Tybalt at the end]]. Many fans did not take this well, as [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in [[http://boymeetsboy.keenspot.com/d/20031002.html this comic]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Opposite of ShipTease '''(8)''']]
* Characters/VillageOfObjects ->'''Coin:''' "Hey Girls, have you seen OJ anywhere? I know he wasn't eliminated and I can't find him anywhere!" (The first thing he says when out of the "bottomless" pit, [[ShipSinking completely forgetting about his thing with Conditioner]]
* Anime/CodeGeass ShipSinking: Occasionally. Can't possibly keep up with the ShipTease. '''(also lacks context)'''
* MythologyGag/Comic Books In #12 of the ComicBook/{{New 52}} ''Action Comics'', Superman is given a vision of a "perfect world", which is basically the pre-Flashpoint universe: his parents are still alive; he started working at the Planet with Jimmy and Lois from his first day in Metropolis; the League headquarters is a moonbase; and he's married to Lois. [[ShipSinking That last one is when he realises this doesn't make sense]].
* '''Missy:''' Oh, don't be disgusting. We're Time Lords, not animals! Try, nano-brain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship. A friendship older than your civilization, and infinitely more complex.
* A small version of this may have just occurred on the FX show ''Series/{{Justified}}'' between Raylan and his ex-wife Winona in "Hatless": Winona's husband gets into trouble with some bad men over land and Raylan comes to her rescue to ensure she won't be hurt. The potential for BigDamnHeroes is completely averted since Winona doesn't want to leave the house, especially since her husband is MIA. Later, she explains why she chose her new husband over Raylan (even though Raylan is tougher, funnier, and better looking) and still goes back to him at the end of the episode despite his bad decisions that endangered her. If there were any Winona/Raylan shippers, they're probably feeling pretty bad right about now. Happily, the ship has been temporarily refloated as of "Father and Sons", but the two still have loads and loads of problems to deal with in the meantime.
* Some ''VideoGame/WarCraft'' fans interpreted an interlude in ''Arthas: Rise of the Lich King'' as sinking the [[FanPreferredCouple Thrall/Jaina]] ship.
* The ''Total Drama Action'' special might have done this for Trent/Gwen shippers. Not only do the two have no one-to-one interaction at all in the special (significant enough in itself) but Gwen admitted she finds Duncan attractive while Trent has already begun dating different girls.
* Three seasons were spent alternately teasing and sinking [[IdiotHero Finn]]/Bubblegum, with Finn sporting an enormous PrecociousCrush on her but Bubblegum not showing any romantic interest in him, despite them getting progressively closer over the seasons. "Too Young" is the pinnacle, with most of the episode depicting them having adorable bonding moments, only to swerve into a sinking ending
[[/folder]]



[[folder: "character do not get together", but unclear how much was in universe'''(18)''']]

* Characters/FarCry4 ShipTease: Has some rather tender moments with Ajay, such as when she was waiting by his bedside. [[spoiler:But when she has her FaceHeelTurn, the ShipSinking instantly takes effect.]]
* Characters/HunterXHunterOtherCharacters ShipTease: With Pokkle. [[ShipSinking And both sides of the ship are murderously torpedoed into the ocean blue in the same arc]].
* Series/Victoria Due to its [[DoomedByCanon doomed by history]] nature, the arrival of Prince Albert is the iceberg hitting the Victoria x Lord M "Titanic" and her marriage proposal to Albert and subsequent marriage is the "Vicbourne" ship sinking beneath the waves, never to be rescued.
* Characters/UntilDawn The game starts giving her some with Josh. Such a shame her clinging to him when they hear a noise in the basement and how she’s talks about she thought they had a connection. Given [[spoiler:how Josh dies or has a FateWorseThanDeath [[ShipSinking their ship has no way of happening]]]].
* Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheFortuneTeller ShipTease: Katara's prediction does double duty as both this and ShipSinking. It disqualifies any non-benders (Jet) for her canon ship while promoting the two main ships (Aang/Zuko), although it mostly promotes Kataang. It could also have included Haru, whom the team already met ("Imprisoned") as an impressive self-taught earthbender. '''(Although I am familiar with this series to know that this one 'is'' in response to in-universe flirting of Katara and Jet)'''
* Recap/MiraculousLadybugS04E03GangOfSecrets ShipSinking: Tikki's statement that kwamis don't fall in love confirms that Tikki/Plagg won't be happening, and nor will any other ship involving kwamis.
* MitamaSecuritySpiritBusters ShipSinking: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged.]] Code 34 presented Mitama as a literal ParentalSubstitute for Rena Haze (competing with her own mother in a "mom-off") which seemingly cleared this ship off the table, at least from Joh's perspective who outright clarified that he wasn't interested in her that way. However, the following chapters send even more mixed messages than ever before, with Rena Haze more and more flustered in presence of Mitama despite openly disliking his quirky antics, and Mitama notably dropping this innocuous line out of nowhere:
-->'''Rena Haze:''' Well, it sounds like you're as attracted to me as the spirits! Ah ha ha!
-->'''Mitama:''' Yeah, maybe I am.

* Manga/RWBYOfficialMangaAnthology This is the case for Weiss and Yang, as Yang confides in Weiss that she sees her as [[FamilyOfChoice another lively sister]]. The feeling is also mutual on Weiss's part as in the show, Weiss all but confirms with Yang that [[TrueCompanions she views Team RWBY]], as [[FamilyOfChoice more of a family]] more than her own brother and father.
* FairyTail/TropesQToS ShipSinking: The final chapter is ambiguous on ships involving Laxus, but it explicitly sinks [[spoiler:Laxus/Mirajane, at least if Lucy's narration is any indication]].
* Series/StarCrossed ShipSinking: [[spoiler: Taylor, despite experimenting before, is not attracted to Sophia.]]
* Characters/SuddenContact ShipSinking: Sinks her own ship with Raynor by refusing to join in on another rebellion.
* Doctor/Sarah Jane was {{Ship Tease}}d heavily throughout the Fourth Doctor/Sarah Jane years, but shot through both of its hearts when she gets unceremoniously PutOnABus. After the departure of Leela, the producer at the time had wanted Sarah Jane to return as companion and to develop the relationship in a more blatantly romantic direction, but Elisabeth Sladen declined to return and so Romana was created as a (very loose) SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute. It wasn't until Sarah Jane returned in the 2006 episode "School Reunion" that it was finally confirmed on screen that she'd been in love with the Doctor, but the series did not pursue this further.
* The possibility of Suzaku x Euphemia was sunk when [[spoiler:Euphemia died after being shot by Lelouch]] in Episode 23 of Season 1.
* ''Manga/ElfenLied'': Fan favourite couple Lucy/Kouta seemed to have some floating in the anime, but when the manga arrived to the part of having Kouta [[spoiler: remember that she killed his family]], all hopes came crashing down and he ended up with [[spoiler: TeamMom Yuka -- and this is ''after'' Lucy's death]], [[DieForOurShip much to the rage of some fans]]. In the anime, Lucy herself tells him that her destiny to remake the world for her species means they can't be together, though it ends on an ambiguous note.
* Endgame also proved to be the final, decisive nail in the coffin for Romanogers fans, due to the ending mentioned for Captain America above as well as Black Widow’s unalterable death on Vormir.
* ''Fanfic/HigherLearning'': Whatever relationship that Misato and Kaoru had crashed down when [[spoiler:Shinji left NERV temporarily]] and Misato blamed Kaoru for it. Their relationship died definitely when [[spoiler:Kaji reunited with Misato after nearly getting assassinated.]]
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' introduced 19-year-old [[GadgeteerGenius Lieutenant Ventura]] at the beginning of the previous arc. She started to get along a bit too well with commander Andreyasn until his girlfriend showed up to sink that ship in a very clear and precise manner. At the end of the arc, she pretty much singlehandedly promoted a RedShirt to {{Mauve|Shirt}} when he saved her life, and the subsequent affection she showed him because of it. That ship was sunk early next arc when said MauveShirt assured his fellow crewmates he doesn't like little girls.
* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'': Are you still waiting for Ahiru to end up with the Prince, [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism despite how dark the series has gotten since]] [[ShipTease the end of episode 13]]? You'll change your tune come episode 24 [[spoiler: because he prefers Rue ''and'' Ahiru seems to have chosen Fakir]]. A lot.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: definitely ''not'' supported in canon, fan shipping only '''(11)''']]

* Website/Neopets A surprising number of people shipped Tomos and Nabile together, before, all of a sudden, Nabile decided she wanted to marry Jazan.
* Naomi and Cook's bantering developed into an OddFriendship, but some Nookie shippers (mainly those on the EveryoneIsBi horse) saw plenty of UST there, despite the fact that [[spoiler:Naomi's SingleTargetSexuality is firmly pointed in Emily's direction]]. The book tried to sink it with some very impassioned statements from Naomi; the show finally managed it.
* FanPreferredCouple Merlin/Arthur supporters knew it was never going to happen, but even after Arthur falls in love with Gwen, there's still hope for a unspoken unrequited love story from the side of his servant, right? Enter Merlin, Arthur/Gwen ShipperOnDeck. He ships it more than the couple does. Whenever a threat to the pairing emerges, he becomes rabid fan-girl in the throes of DieForOurShip.
* While there are people who think Ragna/Nu is cute, [[spoiler:''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueChronoPhantasma Chronophantasma Extend]]'' arcade suggests that losing to Lambda has driven Nu completely off the deep end, changing her goals from [[FusionDance "merge with Ragna"]] to [[OmnicidalManiac "everybody dies"]]. How this pans out in the next game is yet to be seen.]]
* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]][=/=]WebVideo/MarzGurl was sunk for good when Lewis's girlfriend, Iron Liz, became a part of his show. Though most fans seem to like Liz, so this isn't the [[DieForOurShip problem]] it would be in other fandoms. After Liz left the show, Linkara started dating, and is currently married to, Viga, sinking any chance for a [=MarzGurl=]-
* Silver/Blaze was pretty popular around the time ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' was released, until it was revealed that Blaze locked herself away in an AlternateDimension. This is further emphasized with the revelation that Blaze and Silver don't even live in the same timeline[[note]]the details are infamously messy, but to keep it simple; Silver is from a range of BadFuture types, while Blaze is from another dimension entirely[[/note]], making any interaction limited at best. They are often seen with each other whenever on screen, but this is likely due to audience recognition than any real feelings for each other.shipping resurrection.
* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': People started shipping Judai with Asuka or Johan pretty quickly, thanks to all the ShipTease / HomoeroticSubtext he was getting with them. Not only did he choose his StalkerWithACrush / ForgottenChildhoodFriend Yubel instead, he swore to love [[{{Hermaphrodite}} them]] and only [[AmbiguousGender them]] forever, leaving the odds of Judai/Asuka or Judai/Johan happening practically nonexistent.
* Not only do [[CuteGhostGirl Abigail]] and Morgan interact with each other the least out of all the main characters, but in one of the few times they speak, [[spoiler:they learn that Abigail is Morgan's distant ancestor]].
* ''Webcomic/EerieCuties'' sank both fandom ships regarding Layla, whom the readership hoped was in denial about not being a lesbian, or at least bi, because they wanted her to hook up [[FoeYay with Tiffany]] [[FanPreferredCouple or Brooke.]]
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': In the main game, it's unclear what relationship Mythra had with the hero Addam, her previous driver. The prequel DLC immediately makes it clear that there was no romance whatsoever; Addam acts like a put-upon father trying to deal with his bratty teenage daughter. Addam even has a wife, though she never appears on screen.
* Many people were surprised to find out in ''Guilty Gear 2 Overture'' that Ky Kiske [[spoiler:is unofficially married to a Gear and fathered a son; later on, that Gear is revealed to be Dizzy]]. Ky/Jam supporters got an ouch there and for some reason, Ky/Dizzy fics started to pop up more often.
* Headscratchers/TheBigBangTheory Quite simply, they most likely noticed viewers [[FanPreferredCouple preferring the possibility of Sheldon and Penny]] and decided to [[ShipSinking sink it]] by removing all the positive aspects between them and keeping only the negative.
[[/folder]]


[[folder: characters ''were'' together, but this definitively ends the relationship '''(6)''']]
* Recap/SouthParkS21E10SplattyTomato ShipSinking: Once again, Heidi/Cartman: this time it's truly sunk for good with Heidi's determination to end the relationship and ignoring Cartman's repeated threats of suicide.
* YMMV/NickSpencersSpiderMan One of the biggest in Spider-Man's recent memory. After one of [[ComicBook/OneMoreDay the most infamous comic book stories ever written]] and dozens upon dozens of moments of ShipTease and attempted ShipSinking, with [[OutOfCharacter many]] [[DerailingLoveInterests attempts]] at keeping such a thing happening, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are [[OfficialCouple officially]] back together as a couple within the end of the first issue. For bonus points, the dialogue takes extra time to point out ''why'' they work so well as a couple, in complete defiance of the past decade of stories.
* Film/JayAndSilentBobReboot DidNotGetTheGirl[=/=]ShipSinking: While ''Strike Back'' ended with Justice headed for prison and Jay promising to wait for her, in this movie [[spoiler:Justice is married to another woman and, despite Jay being her daughter's father, considers him to not be dad material. It doesn't help that he never even bothered to catch up with her in over 18 years.]]
* ''Series/GeneralHospital'''s legendary SuperCouple Luke and Laura of all people were subjected to this. Starting in 1995 when the couple first became estranged when she couldn't deal with his involvement with the mob anymore, then kicking into high gear in 1998 when they were forced to deal with the fact that he'd raped her 19 years earlier, the writers threw one problem after another at them until they finally divorced in 2001, a few months before they would have celebrated their 20th anniversary.
* ''Fanfic/{{HERZ}}'': Shinji/Kurumi sank long before the story started when [[spoiler:Kurumi got Shinji drunk and took advantage of him… and Shinji thought she was Asuka through the whole thing.]] After that night he started to avoid Kurumi, and she knew she had lost.
* Even canon ships aren't safe. The second season is kicked off with Miss Martian suddenly kissing Lagoon Boy, even though she was dating Superboy at the end of first season. Granted, a lot can change in [[TimeSkip five years]], but the show didn't address their breakup until the next episode. Subverted in that due to later character development, they actually get back together when Miss Martian realizes she was only using Lagoon Boy as a rebound and dumps him for Superboy.
* [[TheHero Hayate]] [[BattleButler Ayasaki]] x [[FirstLove Athena Tennos]] is torpedoed in chapters 264-265 when Athena recognizes that, although they are both still in love with each other, she isn't the most important person in Hayate's life anymore and persuades him to let them go their separate ways. Chapter 266 made it seem like the ship might get refloated when Athena reveals that she kept the ring Hayate gave her and warns [[{{Ojou}} Nagi Sanzen'in]] that she might not give him back next time, but it gets depth-charged in 552 when Athena tells Ayumu Nishizawa that though she still loves Hayate, she does not see herself reflected in his eyes anymore.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Meta (WordOfGod or 4th wall breaks say they wont be a couple) '''(7)''']]
* Trivia/CoeurAlAran He broke this rule for ''A Beast in Beacon'' to [[ShipSinking sink Blake/Adam before the story even started]], but that's because he knew that the abusive undertones of that particular relationship would turn people away.
* StealthPun/WesternAnimation A very meta example: It should be noted that the Dazzlings from ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks Rainbow Rocks]]'' are [[OurSirensAreDifferent Sirens]]. When asked about their origins, WordOfGod [[https://twitter.com/stitchkingdom/status/492751813729210368 mentioned]] that "[Twilight] [[ShipSinking does not date them]]."
* Characters/SaintSeiyaGoldSaints To Marin, according to WordOfGod. The fandom had leaned more toward believing him to be her UnluckyChildhoodFriend, though. In a Q&A, Kurumada used Shion to answer questions about their relationship, and Shion even "said" [[ShipSinking Oh? I have never heard of that rumor.]] It's true that those two get along well, [[PlatonicLifePartners but it is just friendship like male bonding.]]
* LetsPlay/NerdCubed ShipSinking: From ''Nerd³ and Emma Blackery do Reddit!'':
-->'''Reddit Question:''' Did you find out if you're BFGF?\\
'''Dan:''' If we're....''(to Emma)'' should we tell them?\\
''(Dan turns to camera)''\\
'''Dan:''' Internet: We're dating...\\
''(Dan and Emma turn to kiss each other, then stop and turn back)''\\
'''Both:''' ''Other people. Twats....''
* YMMV/TheZetaProject ShipSinking: The creator has said had the show continued with a third season, they wouldn't become a couple.
* WordOfGod sunk the popular Lapis Lazuli/Peridot ship (and every other Peridot ship for that matter) when they revealed that Peridot is aro-ace (i.e., has no interest in personal romantic or sexual relationships).
* Discussed in [[Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops the Winx Loops]] when Bloom and Diaspro say that they are not going to get together.
* In [[http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/sting-26-3/ Sting 26.3]] Clockblocker rants about "[[TakeThatAudience some dingbats online]]" shipping him with Weaver.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: zce and/or potholed without any context '''(13)''']]

* YMMV/MaleficentMistressOfEvil TaintedByThePreview: The film was released on October 18, 2019, but the film's novelization, based on an earlier draft of the script, was released ten days prior. A scene in the book implied that fan-favorite [[MrFanservice Diaval]] would be romantically linked to Arabella, Queen Ingrith's pet cat, rather than [[OneTruePairing Maleficent]], causing some to avoid watching the film out of outrage at the idea of their ship [[ShipSinking sinking]]. The controversial scene does ''not'' appear in the finished film.
* YMMV/ChronoTrigger Lucca as the [[ChildhoodFriendRomance unlucky childhood friend]] of Crono's who was just [[CannotSpitItOut unable to admit her feelings]] and then [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy stood aside for Marle]] is such a common fan assumption that it's actually rarer to find portrayals of her that take her at her word that they're LikeBrotherAndSister. Granted, the {{canon}} itself doesn't totally [[ShipSinking rule out the possibility]].
* ShipTease/Naruto way too long to copy- linked after a looong summary of basically every interaction these charaters have ever had, followed by "their ship is sunk in the epilogue". No idea how much is canon
* Main/WhatIf There was a one-shot focusing on the once-budding relationship of Cornelia and Caleb, though some think it was a TakeThat to the fans who were displeased with them ShipSinking Cornelia/Caleb:
* Heartwarming/Naruto Sakura's smack on the head-turned-embrace ("You're always so reckless...") for Naruto (although that moment is lessened because Naruto did not hug her back, which, in retrospect, [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreshadowed]] what was to come [[ShipSinking in the following arc]]).
* YMMV/Scrubs Believe it or not, J.D./Elliot fell under this for a time. [[WordOfGod Bill Lawrence]] has stated that the end of the third season was supposed to [[ShipSinking definitively shut down that relationship]].
* Recap/StargateAtlantisS05E11TheLostTribe ShipSinking: Keller sinks her ship with Ronan.
* Characters/HikariSentaiMaskman ShipSinking: [[spoiler:]] '''(literally zero context-- -its just the word "spoiler")'''
* ComicBook/SpyBoy ShipSinking: Bombshell and Alex after the TimeSkip.
* YMMV/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince The book that ignited the greatest quantity of flame wars on forums. Especially over the ShipSinking of Harry and Hermione (a ship which had never been alluded to in the books). The film reignited the debate, especially given Steve Kloves' preference towards Harry/Hermione over OfficialCouple Ron/Hermione.
* ''[[Literature/CircleOfMagic The Will of the Empress]]'' spent so much effort on sinking ships between Briar and any of the girls, you'd think these ships were out when Tris decided to play with some hurricanes.
* ''Webcomic/OwMySanity'' is a young webcomic. The David/Collette ship was a young ship. [[http://owmysanity.comicgenesis.com/d/20100826.html It died young]].
[[/folder]]



[[folder: other '''(4)''']]
* Characters/StarWarsTheOldRepublicFallenEmpireSpecificCharacters '''used as "video game character will reject the Player Character if you flirt with her'''
* YMMV/StevenUniverseS2E4SayUncle Sadie and Lars being on a sinking ship as Lars cries out "[[ShipSinking Our Ship!]]" is a fun little meta joke initially. '''visual pun'''
* WebVideo/ESemicolonR VisualPun: Him "celebrating" Korrasami being considered valid by ''Turf Wars'' [[ShipSinking is represented by footage of the Titanic]]. '''in universe reaction to ''another'' story having its ship sunk'''
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', WordOfGod confirming the split timeline sinks every single Link pairing. At the end of ''Ocarina of Time'' Zelda sends Link back in time to when he was a child. This creates two timelines, the "Adult Timeline" where Link defeats Ganon and where most of the game took place, and the "Child Timeline", the timeline only briefly seen during the ending where Link is a child again '''thats just "Link dies therefore does not get together with anyone"'''
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