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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45386
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

## Hero-always-wins is a trope

I wouldn't call this a **plot twist**. A twist is a reveal. It changes how events earlier in the story are perceived.

This is **subverting a trope**. The trope is an expected cliché: "the hero always wins", but then you _break_ or _subvert expectations_. (See 2016 for middle-aged men having a cosmic meltdown because their Star Wars expectations were subverted.)

What you want to avoid is a **shaggy dog ending** : a long drawn out tale that has an abruptly anti-climactic ending that makes the rest of the story feel like a meaningless journey that went nowhere.

It also sounds like your story is (more or less) a **tournament plot** where the hero fights and wins, and then moves on to the next battle – I'm not suggesting that would be the _only_ thing happening in your story, but as tournaments generally go one guy wins and one guy loses. It's probably not going to be _that_ big of a surprise, unless the readers are really young and have only ever seen reassuring stories where the hero always unconditionally wins.

Always winning is a problem with any **series**. The formula _meet, fight, win_ can be hard to break when the whole show is about an Awesomeguy™ who always wins. A one-off story doesn't suffer from this formula, but you may have an _iconic character_ who doesn't really change. These characters can be harder to make interesting than a flawed character who needs to learn a few lessons and doesn't have such an easy path or assured victory.

Coming at the end, you are intending to _trick the reader_, not your protagonist. He can't learn from this defeat, it's the end of his story. If he's defeated at the beginning, or somewhere in the middle, he can change and grow. It can become his motivation (and fear). A defeat at the end isn't a lesson for this character, you're just trying to pull the rug out from under the reader. They might not appreciate being the butt of your joke.

## What age is your reader?

Young children prefer repetitive stories that follow _clear rules_: heroes win, badguys lose, all is right in the world.

At some point (pre-puberty) this starts to shift and kids prefer a _special individual_ to self-identify as the hero, often an underdog who levels up, or can change the outcome based on the force of her friendship charisma. _Special individuals_ might be _the chosen one_ or _switched at birth_ – these characters have their own clichés and tropes to explain how they are simultaneously _underdogs with superpowers_.

With teens and young adults come the _antihero_, _grim-dark_, and _villain-as-hero_ tropes. Here we see the protagonist isn't such a special individual, but the whole world is inherently unfair which justifies un-heroic behavior. The only reasonable character is a _rebel_. The only way to beat the game is to _refuse to play_. We don't expect these characters to win, but they might inflict some damage and get in a few one-liners. When they do win, it feels good but a little schmaltzy. The win is often unearned because the story flirted with a dark, no-win situation, but then retreated to the hero-always-wins tropes from kids stories. It's like eating frozen Tater-Tots® as an adult, you know it's not a meal but it recalls a lot of warm fuzzy childhood feelings.

But slowly as readers mature, they begin to enjoy characters who aren't necessarily special, navigating a world that is not particularly good or bad. As we grow-up we take responsibility for our own actions, we make our own life in the world, and we realize that interesting characters must make their own story happen, as opposed to just reacting to events that happen to them, or fulfilling a pre-defined destiny, or discovering they have won the genetic lottery and can defy physics with their brain. Mature readers enjoy believable characters in believable conflicts. You can still eat Tater-Tots for dinner but the nostalgia wears off, and there are so many other "mature tastes" to explore. Hero-always-wins isn't the expected trope anymore. It _should_ be more complicated than that. Tater-Tots are only on the kids menu.

## A hero represents our worldview

Little kids have no agency and depend on reliable caregivers to make the world more fair. Tweens have figured out that society rewards exceptionalism and privilege, so their heroes reflect this by being special from birth. Teens have some agency but not as much as they'd like, so they identify with rebels against an unfair world…. As we mature our tastes change. It's not a sudden cut-off, and we can still enjoy different kinds of stories, so this is a _broad generalization_ to give you some things to think about.

Based on this (admittedly rough) guideline, I could say that your story is aimed at readers who are getting bored with _the chosen one_ and _hero-always-wins_ tropes, and might be pleasantly surprised by a _grim-dark_ or _villain-as-hero_ ending. You should consider how you can **signal** that this will turn out to be one of those stories. Don't "trick" the reader with _a bait-and-switch_. You don't want to fool little kids with a grim-dark ending, like Paddington Bear gets his skull smashed – that's just mean.

You should signal to the more mature readers that this won't be the "kids stuff" they are getting bored with. And you'll want to send the same signal to the younger ones who aren't ready to accept they are living in an unfair world, and being "special" doesn't always make up for it. If you deliberately lie to the reader about your story's worldview, it's a whole other issue than just subverting a trope or adding a plot twist. You are turning away the readers who will enjoy your story. Find ways to signal what kind of worldview your story takes place in. You can still entertain with surprises without resorting to a razor blade hidden in a Halloween apple.

Original score: 19