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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45413
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45413
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Whether you can do this depends on the nature of the villain's goals and the MC's goals. If the villain seeks power, then even if it costs the MC her life, if she prevents the villain from getting power then she has unequivocally won.

For example, in Armageddon; Bruce Willis has to blow up the asteroid. (This is a man-against-nature movie; but it works as an example). His goal, from the beginning, is to fly his team to the asteroid, plant the nuke, and get safely away before detonating it.

But complications happen; the remote detonator gets lost or won't work or something, so somebody has to detonate the nuke by hand. Bruce takes the hit to save his team; there's an emotional end where he says goodbye to his daughter by video, etc. He blows up himself and the asteroid in the nick of time.

So you might say Bruce didn't accomplish his goal, but he accomplished his **true implied goal,** to save humanity (made personal by saving his daughter's life). It cost more than he planned, but the villain (Nature) was defeated in its plan to wipe out all life on Earth.

This is a general rule for protagonists, no matter what the cost to them, even death, they are considered to have won if they prevented the villain from getting what they want. So in order to **defeat** the protagonist, you have to let the villain win.

There may be some way around this by playing with the goals; but they would almost have to be disconnected from each other, and then I wonder why the protagonist wants to stop the villain, if the villain's plans won't affect her negatively in any way. Why would she risk her life or time or injury to stop the villain?

An out that you can use here is "partial success." In Star Wars, Vader succeeds in destroying a planet full of people, but the rebels succeed in destroying the death star -- But not Vader, he gets away. Eventually Obi Wan dies too, but his spirit lives on. Star Wars is full of mixed results where nobody wins completely, every win comes with losses.

And individual stories can do the same. It doesn't have to be a "lives happily ever after" ending, the MC can prevail but lose the true love of her life; or stop the plans of the villain but not kill the villain; like Vader he escapes. Or the villain partially succeeds. In fighting competition (IRL) it is very seldom the "victor" escapes unscathed. Instead they are bloody, injured, exhausted and in pain. Victors, but the cost is high. Fiction can emulate life in that respect, at least metaphorically.

So invert "nobody wins", make it so nobody escapes without suffering terrible loss.

Original score: 1