History Main / EverybodysDeadDave

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tarawa The Battle of Tarawa]] pits an estimated 3,000-man garrison of the [[EliteMooks Special Naval Landing Force]] of the [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Imperial Japanese Navy]] against an 18,000 invasion force of [[SemperFi US Marines]] in a heavily defended island in the Central Pacific. By the time the battle is over the Marines have suffered nearly two thousand dead, while only '''''seventeen''''' Japanese are alive to surrender, alongside 129 Korean laborers.
* Many island sieges in the Pacific tend to end this way, thanks in no small part to the Japanese military's distaste for surrender and their doctrine of fighting to the last man in the hopes of incurring as many Allied casualties in the process. Of the 21,000 Japanese garrison who fought at Iwo Jima, only 216 were taken prisoner, while other survivors would hide within the island before surrendering years after the end of the war.

* [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII When the Bismarck fired on the Hood]], [[CriticalHit one shell passed through seven decks and hit a powder magazine]]. Of the 1,500 sailors on board, ''three'' survived. Hood's escort, the Prince Of Wales, could do nothing but run.
** Similar "instant death" occurrences happened in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, notably at the Battle of Jutland, where three British battlecruisers suffered catastrophic magazine explosions from single hits.
* Film/{{Jonestown}}, where ApocalypseCult leader Jim Jones massacred over 900 of his followers in a ritual murder-suicide. Only a handful survived, in some cases by playing dead.

** Many island sieges in the Pacific tend to end this way, thanks in no small part to the Japanese military's distaste for surrender and their doctrine of fighting to the last man in the hopes of incurring as many Allied casualties in the process. Of the 21,000 Japanese garrison who fought at Iwo Jima, only 216 were taken prisoner, while other survivors would hide within the island before surrendering years after the end of the war.

* In Franchise/TheDCU mini-series ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', viewpoint character Norman [=McKay=] has prophetic visions telling him that this will happen to Superman. In the end [[spoiler:it happens exactly like that. Except instead of redshirts, it's a battlefield filled with most of the superhuman characters in the DC universe which gets hit with a nuke. There ''are'' survivors, thanks to [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]'s HeroicSacrifice, but most of them are dead, with Superman kneeling in the ashes, more or less unharmed but ''exceptionally angry''.

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/{{Superman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rco001_1461952295.png]]]]

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1647811583040514300&page=1
%% Please start a new thread to discuss a new image.

See also: TenLittleMurderVictims, LastOfHisKind, DwindlingParty, OnlyTheLeadsGetAHappyEnding, and LateToTheTragedy. Compare and contrast: TotalPartyKill, EverybodyDiesEnding, and EverybodyLives. Compare PartyScattering, where the same feeling of abandonment is invoked for each main character separately, but without any of them dying.

* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', the appropriately titled Sole Survivor is the only resident of Vault 111 (other than their kidnapped son) to leave the vault alive, with their spouse having been shot by the kidnappers and the rest of the vault dwellers killed by CryonicsFailure.

* This is your character's {{backstory}} if you select the "Sole Survivor" and "Colonist" backgrounds in ''Franchise/MassEffect''. For bonus points, your character can have BOTH. And then Creator/BioWare had a lot of fun with this trope in the sequel:

* ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'' has an all-but-bluntly-put moment near the end of the game, when Yamato tells the other party members that [[spoiler:, in order for Polaris to change the world,]] all of mankind's desire must be the same. The entire party consists of twelve people. The rest of humanity is ''gone''.

* Sets the stage for the first ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', when the hero is the only surviving member of a squad of marines sent to ''two'' survivorless moons (overrun by demons go figure) and then ''Hell.''
** ''VideoGame/QuakeII'', the game's SpiritualSuccessor, has a similar premise.
** And then again in ''Doom II'' where the hero is the last man ''on Earth'' (sans a lone escaping spaceship).
** At the conclusion of ''Doom 3'', the nameless protagonist is the only survivor. Every single NPC he has met over the course of the game has met their end through one way or another.
*** And it occurs once more with the protagonist of ''Resurrection of Evil'', though [=McNeil=] may have survived.
** In ''Doom 2016'', the only survivors are the Doom Slayer and Samuel Hayden.
* Something like this happens in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' in the beginning with the Grey Wardens at Ostagar. Although most of the order join the King and his army on the battlefield against the darkspawn, two have been selected for a separate mission away from the fighting: the player character and another junior Warden named Alistair. The battle is a complete massacre because the King's father-in-law, Loghain, ordered his troops to retreat instead of coming to help, and the player and Alistair are only saved due to intervention by a sort-of supernatural ally. They awaken a few days after the battle and are greeted with the news that they are the only surviving Grey Wardens in the entire country, and the responsibility for stopping the darkspawn is entirely on their shoulders.
** This is also seen earlier in the game if you choose the Human Noble origin. During the backstory, [[spoiler:the family castle is invaded and everyone inside is slaughtered. Only the player character and his/her dog escape.]]

* Also by "Kill Em All" [[Creator/YoshiyukiTomino Tomino]], ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine'' ends with [[spoiler: the whole cast dying in a dramatic final battle, except for [[OurFairiesAreDifferent Cham Huau]], and even her fate afterwards is left ambiguous.]]

* In the most recent arc of ''Manga/Reborn2004'' Tsuna and Co. are transported 10 years into the future where they are told many major supporting characters have been killed by a rival mafia group. Including [[spoiler:all the arcobalenos (including Reborn), Yamamoto's father and even ''Tsuna himself'' [[note]]Though this is later revealed to be false[[/note]]. Tsuna's parents, Vongola 9th boss, Shamal and Naito Longchamp are still MIA.]]

* In Franchise/TheDCU mini-series ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', viewpoint character Norman [=McKay=] has prophetic visions telling him that this will happen to Superman. In the end [[spoiler:it happens exactly like that. Except instead of redshirts, it's an entire battlefield filled with most of the superhuman characters in the DC universe which gets hit with a nuke. There ''are'' survivors, thanks to [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]]'s HeroicSacrifice, but most of them are dead, with Superman kneeling in the ashes, more or less unharmed but ''exceptionally angry''.

* In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', when the crew figures out that [[spoiler: "Miranda" is a planet]], the crew makes a perilous journey through Reaver territory, to try to find out why [[spoiler:Miranda]] is so important. When they finally land planet-side, they discover the long dead corpses of an entire planet's population. Of course there were once survivors, but [[spoiler:they all turned into Reavers]].

* ''Literature/TheBriefHistoryOfTheDead'' starts with this for the entire world, as one last survivor is stranded somewhere in Antarctica. The world of the dead is a bit more crowded -- they don't fade until everyone who remembers them is dead, so she's preserving her friends, her family, and even the checkout worker at the grocery store she used to shop at. [[spoiler: Then she dies, and away they go.]]

** At the start of the second series the crew give a similar speech to Kryten, who hadn't realized his masters had been dead for centuries. And even after they tell him, it still takes a few minutes for it to register.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' has a few of these, most notably in the episode "Croatoan" where an entire town's population except the brothers and one doctor (not counting one kid who turns out to be working for the BigBad) are wiped out.

** Genesis, Chapters 6 - 9: God kills all but Noah's family in a world-wide deluge:
** Genesis, Chapter 19: God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah; only Lot and his daughters are spared.

** In the book of Job, Job gets this four times in a row. Four servants come in, one after another, to inform him that all his livestock have been killed or stolen, all his other servants have been killed, and even his children are dead. In less than a day, his entire estate was reduced to himself, his wife, and these four [[SoleSurvivor Sole Survivors]].

* ''VideoGame/{{BattleZone|1998}} II'' ends this way if you side with [[spoiler: General Braddock]]. You murder your former commanding officer, wipe out a rebellion opposing [[spoiler: Braddock]]'s plans for dictatorship - killing [[spoiler: Braddocks']] former right-hand man, then you go on to commit genocide on an entire species. By the end, [[spoiler: Braddock]] and you are the only named characters left alive.

* In "Episode 0: Allocation" of ''VideoGame/Code7'' you eventually find a room where the corpses of the entire [[SpaceStation Schrödinger Station]] crew are perfectly lined up on the floor, [[spoiler:with injection marks on their necks and their brains extracted]]. You and Sam are the only humans left on the station [[spoiler:and even your humanity is ... unclear.]]

** And even their rescuers often come to bad ends in the first game. The survivors are truly fortunate to be immune to both infection and helicopter crashes.

** When Redcloak [[spoiler: destroys the Resistance, he kills everyone, Thanh included, and even allows one of his own disguised minions to die in the process. [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0827.html Niu is the only one to survive]].]].

* In WWI and previous wars, men were regimented by village. So it was not unusual that when an entire trench or regiment was wiped out, that was all the men in your village.

* Both ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' and ''VideoGame/SystemShock 2'' kill almost every single NPC aboard the station/ship besides the nameless player. There's a group of survivors in the first game, but they are wiped out before the player can reach them. In the sequel, the ending cutscene shows SHODAN taking control of Rebecca Siddons and menacing Tommy Suarez (presumably killing him).

** In ''VideoGame/SystemShock'''s SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', the main character is the only survivor of a plane wreck [[spoiler:that he caused]] in the opening sequence. Rapture itself may qualify, as nearly everyone you encounter is either dead, homicidally insane (and killed by the main character during the game), or no longer truly human. The sequel reveals that there were a few others who survived, and that even the splicers went on to be partially rehabilitated... before joining a sinister cult, whose leader happens to want the protagonist dead.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation has [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-451 SCP-451]], a former Foundation agent who ''thinks'' he's the last human on Earth due to a PerceptionFilter which prevents him from perceiving other humans, any of their actions, or any of their attempts to communicate with him.

** Subverted: In the worst ending of the game, Shepard's entire team and crew dies but it looks like Shepard him/herself will survive... and then s/he falls to his death...thus, leaving Joker the sole (organic) survivor of the Suicide Mission.

** In the [[Recap/SupernaturalS15E19InheritTheEarth second-to-last episode of the series]], Chuck has already destroyed every other universe in the multiverse. He then wipes out all life on the remaining universe, leaving the Winchester Brothers and Jack Kline as the last surviving mortals in all of creation. [[spoiler:Fortunately, once Chuck is stripped of his power and Jack becomes the new God, everything is restored to what it once was]].

* The legends related to Myth/KingArthur. Only 1-7 knights (it varies between various accounts) survive Arthur's final battle at Camlann. There are no survivors on the opposing side.

** Turned UpToEleven in the prequel novel ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'' when Jadis used [[BrownNote The Deplorable Word]] to destroy ''all living things in the world'' except herself.

** Also occurs at the start of the second series, subverting the happy ending of the first series with [[spoiler:Rena being talked down by Keiichi]]. Turns out everyone was killed in a "gas leak" (yeah right) except for [[spoiler:Rena]], who happened to be out of town at the time. [[spoiler:Rena]] is still alive thirty years later in the present day, but she's not the chipper kid she was once was anymore.

* Ethan Hunt after the Prague mission in the first ''Film/MissionImpossible'' film. ("My team! My team is DEAD!")

** In his short novel ''Literature/TheLongWalk'', only one out of the original one hundred contestants in the titular endurance competition survives. The others were all killed when they couldn't keep up the pace.

* ''Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx'' starts off this way, as the prologue details Beta Company's three-hundred man assault against a Covenant refinery. The refinery is destroyed and the mission is a success... but there are two survivors of entire battle, human or alien: Tom and Lucy.

* ''Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx'' starts off this way, as the very first chapter details Beta Company's three-hundred man assault against a Covenant refinery. The refinery is destroyed and the mission is a success... but there are two survivors of entire battle, human or alien: Tom and Lucy.

* Literature/HaloGhostsOfOnyx starts off this way, as the very first chapter details Beta Company's three-hundred man assault against a Covenant refinery. The refinery is destroyed and the mission is a success... but there are two survivors of entire battle, human or alien: Tom and Lucy.

See also: TenLittleMurderVictims, LastOfHisKind, DwindlingParty, OnlyTheLeadsGetAHappyEnding, and LateToTheTragedy. Compare and contrast: TotalPartyKill, KillEmAll, and EverybodyLives. Compare PartyScattering, where the same feeling of abandonment is invoked for each main character separately, but without any of them dying.

* Also by "KillEmAll" [[Creator/YoshiyukiTomino Tomino]], ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine'' ends with [[spoiler: the whole cast dying in a dramatic final battle, except for [[OurFairiesAreDifferent Cham Huau]], and even her fate afterwards is left ambiguous.]]

* ''Literature/TheBriefHistoryOfTheDead'' starts with this for the entire world, as one last survivor is stranded somewhere in Antarctica. The world of the dead is a bit more crowded -- they don't fade until everyone who remembers them is dead, so she's preserving her friends, her family, and even the checkout worker at the grocery store she used to shop at. [[spoiler:[[KillEmAll Then she dies, and away they go]].]]

* In ''Literature/Catch22'', [[spoiler:by the end of the book, nearly all of the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters are dead. But because they only died one at a time and each chapter only focused on a few characters, this realization doesn't really hit the reader until the last chapter, where there's hardly any left]].

* In adaptations, this is a way of enforcing MinimalistCast on a production that is normally chock full of LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. For example, ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation''.

[[quoteright:350:[[Comicbook/TheTransformers https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ffm4xfivcacecmh.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[TonightSomeoneDies Tonight, EVERYONE Dies!]]]]
%%