Load-Bearing Boss: Difference between revisions

A boss-type monster whose destruction [[No Ontological Inertia|causes the location to self-destruct]] (see [[Collapsing Lair]]). Usually results in a scene after the final battle wherein the player must make a hasty escape before [[Timed Mission|the clock runs out]].

 

 

Always seems a bit too contrived, though Terry Pratchett suggested in his first ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/The Colour of Magic|The Colour of Magic]]'' that this phenomenon was due to entropy (having been frightened away by the [[Cosmic Horror]] boss) making up for lost time. Or perhaps the lair simply has [[No Ontological Inertia]].

== Gamebooks ==

* Happens twice in the ''[[Lone Wolf]]'' series.

** Played straight in Book 17, ''The Deathlord of Ixia'', with the destruction of [[Big Bad]] Ixiataaga resulting in the collapse of the whole city of Xaagon as [[No Ontological Inertia|time was catching up with it]].

** Averted in Book 12. If Helgedad is destroyed shortly after the defeat of [[Big Bad]] Gnaag, it's because Lone Wolf has brought a ''freaking magical bomb'' with him, causing a chain reaction that wipe out the whole evil capital city.

 

== Literature ==

{{quote|''And when Balin saw that spear, he gat it in his hand and turned him to King Pellam, and smote him passingly sore with that spear, that King Pellam fell down in a swoon, and therewith the castle roof and walls brake and fell to the earth, and Balin fell down so that he might not stir foot nor hand. And so the most part of the castle, that was fallen down through that dolorous stroke, lay upon Pellam and Balin three days.''}}

* Another early example is Edgar Allan Poe's classic Gothic tale ''The Fall of the House of Usher'', first published in 1839, in which the eponymous house breaks in two and collapses when Roderick and Madeline die.

** Their deaths don't actually cause the house to collapse. However, since the house was a metaphor for the family, it seems justified.

* ''[[Dracula]]'' was apparently originally going to include a scene where Dracula's castle collapsed upon his defeat (though it would not have been a threat to anyone, since the climactic battle takes place ''outside'' of the castle).

** {{spoiler|Lelouch}} uses the same kind of trap in the first season finale of ''[[Code Geass]]'', except the bomb is {{spoiler|on his chest}}.

* Literary [[Subverted Trope|subversion]]: in ''Captain's Fury'', fourth book of the ''[[Codex Alera]]'' series, one of the villains has managed to tie the ongoing calmness of a volcano in his homeland to his own survival via magic. {{spoiler|Rather than waiting for the volcano to go boom upon the villain's eventual defeat, his rival Gaius Sextus actually uses this to defeat the villain in the first place by blowing the volcano up on top of the still-living villain, burying him and his entire capital city in volcanic ash a la Pompeii.}}

* At the end of ''[[Baldur's Gate]] II: The Throne of Bhaal'' the plane you're fighting on collapses shortly after the battle as the power that was sustaining it and that the [[Final Boss]] was channeling departs after their defeat. Unusually, you're at no risk having already left, but the boss, who wasn't quite dead, is crushed by it.

* Justified in ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)]]: Dark Corners of the Earth'', where defeating Hydra will make the psychic barrier she has raised around Y'ha'neth'lei to vanish, allowing the navy submarine to torpedo the place, unaware that there's someone inside aiding their efforts.

* In ''[[Cave Story]]'', beating the [[Final Boss]] will cause this, but beating the ''[[True Final Boss]]'' will stop it.

** Justified in a somewhat unusual way: The final boss is {{spoiler|possessing the Island Core, which you know is the very thing keeping the island flying;}} so when you destroy the boss, it makes perfect sense for things to go south fast. As for the True Final Boss reversal... [[A Wizard Did It]]?

*** And again with the Giant of Bab-Il and the CPU.

** Perfectly justified in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'': {{spoiler|Yu Yevon is the summoner whose constant dream}} causes Sin to even exist; therefore, defeating him {{spoiler|ends the dream and makes Sin dissolve into pyreflies}}.

** ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' gives us another justified example. {{spoiler|Orphan, the fal'cie fought at the end of the game who is of a [[Big Bad Duumvirate]] with Barthandelus, is actually the power source of all Cocoon. When the protagonists kill it, the power system of Cocoon fails and it begins sinking towards Pulse.}}

** ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' has this with its final boss battle. {{spoiler|It's strongly implied that the heroes did not make it out, despite the ambiguous ending.}}

* Likewise, in ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'', during your final battle with Krauser, he activates his time bombs, which only gives you ''three'' minutes to beat him and escape.

** The final battle ends in you escaping on a jet ski while the entire island explodes as a result of {{spoiler|Ada Wong}} activating the self-destruct mechanism.

*** Every single ''[[Resident Evil]]'' game fits this trope. Whether the deadline starts before the boss fight or afterward, you can be sure the mansion/base/castle/ship/island will explode in the following cutscene.

** Both ''[[Resident Evil Outbreak]]'' games take this trope to the logical extreme. The city is NUKED after the the final boss fight.

*** "Dorothy" from ''[[Resident Evil]] Outbreak: File #2''.

* In the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game ''[[Ristar]]'' the bad guy's fortress starts to explode as soon as the final blow is struck. {{spoiler|However, the [[Big Bad]] seems to escape.}}

* Defeating Myria in ''[[Breath of Fire]] III'' causes her space station to collapse.

** Occurs several times in the original ''[[Breath of Fire]]'', and is played for tragedy once when {{spoiler|Cerl combines [[High Heel Face Turn]] with [[You Shall Not Pass]], buying time for Ryu and the others to escape her fortress by fighting her former allies. Its disappearance confirms her death, ''and'' takes out another sympathic character in the process.}}

* Defeating the Golden Diva in ''[[Wario Land]] 4'' causes the golden pyramid to sink into the ground as Wario escapes with the treasure.

** Syrup Castle in ''[[Wario Land]] 1'' and ''2'' explodes after Captain Syrup is defeated, the first time being explained by a gigantic bomb being placed in the throne room, the second actually sending the boss flying into the horizon.

* Defeating Mundus in ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' causes the collapse of the entirety of Mallet Island.

* Defeating Dr. Robotnik at the end of most of the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' Sega Genesis games.

** There's a bit of an inversion in the original ''Neverwinter Nights'' expansion pack ''Shadow of Undrentide''. {{spoiler|The final Big Bad is being protected by the same magical artifact that is holding the floating city of Undrentide in the air. The only way to kill her is to first destroy the artifact, which causes Undrentide to start falling. You fight and kill her on top of the city while it's in freefall.}}

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has a bit of an opposite of this in Kologarn, 5th boss in the Ulduar raid instance. When you defeat him (being a giant with only his upper body in sight), he becomes the bridge to the next area.

* In ''[[La-Mulana]]'', defeating Mother causes the ruins of La-Mulana to collapse. Which makes sense, since {{spoiler|the ruins are the body of Mother, and the [[Sequential Boss|five-tier]] boss that you took down is her soul.}}

* Averted in ''[[Tomb Raider]] 1'' and ''Anniversary'', where {{spoiler|it's actually destroying the scion (load-bearing artifact?) that makes Atlantis collapse, and the fight with Natla is done while it is collapsing (''Anniversary'' seems to be far less explicit about this for some reason)}}. Played straight in ''[[Tomb Raider]] 2'', where {{spoiler|killing the [[Big Bad]] and getting the Dagger somehow makes a big portion of the Great Wall explode in the ending}}. Played straight again in ''[[Tomb Raider]] 4'', as {{spoiler|the great pyramid suddenly starts falling apart after Horus/Set is sealed, although in this case it's an important part of the ending}}.

* In ''[[Ys]] V'', the city of Kefin disintegrates after the defeat of the [[Big Bad]]. In ''[[Ys]] VI'', the Ark of Napishtim collapses after the titular [[Weather Control Machine]]'s [[Reactor Boss|core]] is destroyed. Subverted in ''III/Oath'', where Chester sinks Galbalan's Island himself in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

* Reimu from ''[[Touhou]]'' is this, but a heroic version.

* Demonic and Flameye in ''[[Purple]]''. Once you kill them, you have to run through their slightly redesigned fortress quickly and find the now unsealed ?-balls.

* The [http://www.zeldaclassic.com/viewquest.php?q=316 Zelda Classic] Quest Lost Isle by [[Dark Flame Wolf]] and Peteo had this. By defeating the [[Big Bad]] [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Morlach]], he tells you in his [[Final Speech|last words]], that his powers alone were all the time holding back the [[Chekhov's Volcano|vulcano]] from a devastating eruption, which would blow up the whole island into oblivion. Since his powers are fading away [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|by your efforts]], you have no choice but to escape.

* In ''[[Aleste|M.U.S.H.A.]]'', after defeating the [[Final Boss]], this message pops up: "You've destroyed their main base! Escape before it blows!" Escape is automatic, but not without showing some damage.

* ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'': Happens to the Sarafan when they sort-of-kill Janos Audron. [[Lampshaded]] with "The fiend intends to bury us alive!".

* ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]'': Several chapters' levels start to fall apart upon defeat of the boss. This includes chapters 8, 9, {{spoiler|12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17.}} It's even [[Lampshaded]] by {{spoiler|Hades}} at the end of chapter {{spoiler|14.}}

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Hades:''' This place is going to the dogs without Phosphora around!}}}}

* [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] in the Webcomic ''[[Casey and Andy]]'': Quantum Crook holds sterotypical [[Evil Overlord]] Mulligan as hostage to cover his escape. When the confused main characters ask why they should care about him killing their archnemesis, Quantum Crook explains this trope to them.

* Referenced (somewhat subtly) in [http://creamybeamy.comicgenesis.com/d/20090105.html this] page of ''[[Gorgeous Princess Creamy Beamy]]''.

* [[The Ditz|Elan]] [[Genre Savvy|thinks]] [[Self-Destruct Mechanism|this should happen]] at the end of the first arc of ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]''. Nobody else agrees, but they're [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0118.html too late].

* Being [[Genre Savvy]], the cast of ''[[Adventurers!]]'' [http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20051231.html fully expect this to happen.]

* [[Alliteration|Similarly savvy]], ''[[RPG World]]'' concisely [[Hand Wave|hand-waves]] [http://rpgworldcomic.com/d/20030604.html this]...before [[Lampshade Hanging|deferring the lampshade]] onto [[Final Boss Preview|the nature of the boss]] itself.