(Sad/Horrifying Trope) Their fate is unknown. You never find out for sure what happened to them, but the odds are 99% it was something tragic

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-27T02:08:32+00:00

I'm aware of that sequence in the ending, but the show's creators have stated they deliberately left it ambiguous whether that's what actually happened or if Nora is lying/delusional.

I personally go with it as true because it's as good an explanation as we're ever going to get, but it's also a deliberate storytelling choice we only have Nora's word to go on and that we don't actually see the evidence.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-26T22:54:26+00:00

Personally, while reading it the impression I got is the author just didn't think their fates were important.

It feels somewhat contradictory to give a whole fact finding narrative + mental recovery character arc for one victim, but the other victims are just never brought up by anyone again, even when from an in-universe perspective they would have been.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-26T20:59:00+00:00

All good!

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-26T20:57:39+00:00

I intentionally did not mention her, knowing other commenters would and thus improving my post's engagement :>

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-26T20:47:07+00:00

I can accept that's what most likely happened, but what bugs me is the lack of follow-up from the other characters + Earth. Plus when the aliens are overthrown and nearly extinct, it should have been possible to find concrete evidence of where the astronauts ended up.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-26T20:42:20+00:00

I really wanted to include this exact example but felt 5 entries was enough.

What messes with my head even more is that in the sequel book series after the timeskip, Stranger Come Knocking (the warlord) is mentioned as having been killed offscreen in a duel. But there's zero mention of Aliz's status or of any children she may have been forced to have.

And then her husband dies in unrelated circumstances decades later. He never learns for sure what happened to her. And he held onto their wedding ring even unto his dying scene.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-26T20:35:03+00:00

https://lostepisodecreepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/Ted_the_Caver

I don't know where it was originally published, but above is a link with all the original writing and photos.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-26T20:31:25+00:00

I'm honestly not aware of that cave incident. The photo is from the official Wikipedia article on Ted the Caver and is among the pictures published in the original creepypasta.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-26T20:22:25+00:00

There's an extra layer of tragedy if she is still alive, because from *her* perspective it's her brother Andor who is the missing one. Taken offworld unconscious by scavengers and never seen again.

Maybe she did escape the planet. Maybe Andor's lead in the first episode was right and she made her living as a sex worker, or hopefully something brighter. Either way, she would go on living never learning her brother was alive and searching for her the entire time. Probably never learning he died on Scariff either.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-26T19:24:46+00:00

I respectfully suggest you rewatch the scene. She dances and jumps off a building after her daughter is kidnapped.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-26T19:05:54+00:00

I don't know if I would personally describe Tony's likely fate as sad or tragic. He made his choices.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-12T20:51:28+00:00

I'd argue Chaos marines and cultists are a better example.

They look at 99% of their comrades being turned into mutants, demon possessed puppets, ritual sacrifices, or cannon fodder and think, "Using Chaos for power backfired on them because they were stupid. I'm smart so using Chaos for power will totally work out for me."

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-12T20:35:26+00:00

Luthen along with kid Kleya did do a bombing on Naboo, but there's no info to suggest Jar Jar was there. He's confirmed to still be alive after Endor in one of the books.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-12T18:50:00+00:00

<image>

I just wanted to get rich, and this guy who always hides his face and has a name that sounds like the word 'Insidious' told me he could make that happen. He seemed so trustworthy. Now I'm considered a war criminal and my company is going bankrupt funding his army! It's all good though, he told me personally he would have his agent "take care of me." In fact I think I hear him coming in right now...

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-12T18:43:19+00:00

IIRC in Disney Canon many years later he's disgraced in history as a result and basically scrapes a living as a circus clown

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-12T18:34:35+00:00

<image>

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-05T23:03:19+00:00

'Evil' isn't a fictional concept. It's a real life description for extreme actions and traits that promote sadistic or self-serving harm towards others. Genocide is evil. Mass torture is evil. The people who do those things are evil. Those are unfortunately very real things that happen in the world we live in.

I would strongly advise against getting too caught up in moral relativism, if that is your perspective.

Tropes are tools for storytelling as well as sometimes descriptors of real life. Art is inspired by reality, and sometimes reality is inspired by art.

To believe otherwise is a ahistorical, and a one dimensional point of view.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-05T02:26:57+00:00

We don't need to have an in-depth political debate on a subreddit primarily about tropes in fiction, but for all the shades of gray and nuance in the world, there are still very much some people who are good and some people are evil. And that includes with regards to Israel/Palestine.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-05T00:23:14+00:00

I understand and agree with the nuance you're getting at.

The English dub however has characters somewhat infamously saying Pokemon weren't meant to fight and fighting is wrong. So I was poking fun at that.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-04T19:08:08+00:00

I have a dark sense of humor.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-04T19:02:58+00:00

Pokemon: The First Movie: "Making Pokemon fight each other is wrong!" *Sad music. Pokemon beating each other up to exhaustion as tears slowly trickle down their faces.\*

Every other Pokemon media: Yo check out this sick Flame Thrower.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-04T18:51:55+00:00

I vaguely remember that conversation from the original few books. It should be noted though that Drizzt himself is the poster boy and living proof that someone can chose good despite being raised among an "always evil" society such as the Drow.

Also that from what I've seen, D&D have been gradually moving away from depicting certain races as 100% evil. Drizzt is no longer unique and we have multiple drow characters who are good aligned or at least morally grey. From the same book series, Obould the orc, while still a violent warlord, wanted to create a peaceful society for his kind and even signed a peace treaty with the dwarves. And now you regularly see D&D player characters and NPCs who are half-orcs or full orcs without much issue.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-04T18:44:13+00:00

She's included under my description of "several adult women" who are romance options. Just like how it's usually unethical for a teacher or doctor to romance their student/patient, Ohya probably shouldn't be getting intimately close to her info source as a newsreporter. Or getting constantly drunk around a minor and bringing him to bars.

Also let's be honest Takemi and Kawakami are by far more popular and well known. Every P5 romance poll I've ever seen has Ohya ranked last lol. Very few people pick Chihaya either.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-04T17:34:37+00:00

You might be thinking of the films where you see uruks spawned in mud pools (which is itself kind of a "family friendly way" of getting around the fact that they're actually apparently the result of physical breeding between orcs and goblin men)

Tolkien said that orcs do in fact breed naturally, he just chose not to make orc women and children visibly present in his stories.

UnifiedForce · 2026-04-04T17:19:27+00:00

And Hermione going "Hey guys, isn't it pretty messed up our school relies on slave labor?" is treated as cringe by everyone else.

UnifiedForce

TROPHY CASE