History has plenty of examples of this trope, especially in stories of failed rebellions against a powerful empire or recountings of real life tragedies. When this trope is parodied, it is the happy ending stuck on for the villain instead which is despairingly from the hero's perspective. A bad guy who wins is a Karma Houdini by definition, and such endings can frequently be depressing as hell itself - even more so than your regular Downer Ending. The Bad Guy Wins is Exactly What It Says on the Tin: complete and ultimate triumph for the villain, and complete and utter devastation (frequently with death or worse) for the hero or heroes who dared to oppose them. Not so with this ultimate of Downer Endings. Even if the villain wins in these kinds of endings, it's usually at great enough personal cost to the villain that they are utterly ruined as a result. One can even get away with a Downer Ending where it ends badly for the heroes, but many of these kinds of endings are "nobody wins" affairs where everybody pays the price ( fatally or not). Sometimes things are a little more bittersweet, but we at least expect the villain to lose in the end. The bad guys get theirs, justice is done, and the heroes walk away happy. We're all used to heroes winning out over the bad guys.
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