During the early days of World War II, with the fall of France imminent, Britain faces its darkest hour as the threat of invasion looms. As the seemingly unstoppable Nazi forces advance, and with the Allied army cornered on the beaches of Dunkirk, the fate of Western Europe hangs on the leadership of the newly-appointed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill [Academy Award nominee Gary Oldman]. While maneuvering his political rivals, he must confront the ultimate choice: negotiate with Hitler and save the British people at a terrible cost or rally the nation and fight on against incredible odds.
From this principle comes the Darkest Hour line, inspired by Sir Winston Churchill, one of the greatest men in contemporary history. Winston was a watch lover: many of his pocket watches were incredibly similar to those produced on Regent Street by David Stewart Dawson. The Lord of the Admiralty knew how to mark the time of the resistance of the Allies perfectly, just as the ETA (or SELLITA) Swiss movement that beats in the 42mm steel case of this collection, with an autonomy of 38 hours of charge, marks the time without error.
The Swiss movement guarantees the usual accuracy and precision of Stewart Dawson London creations. Italian flair comes into play in taste and straps, handmade in Italy with the best leather: a tribute to the bond that tied Churchill to the beautiful country. In addition to his love for Italy and its beauty, Winston felt at home on the peninsula because of the blood relationship with this land. The dynasty of the paternal grandmother, partly descended from the Gucciardini-Strozzi and Guido Cavalcanti, father of Stilnovism. Perhaps this is the origin of the poetry present in Churchill's statements that went down in history, those spread by radio or in the House in the most difficult moments of the world conflict. The same poem that Stewart Dawson London recorded on the back of the Darkest Hour line. A unique detail for those who, in the darkest hours, thanks to the index Swiss SuperLuminova, can make crucial decisions at the right time.
Ford, the executive chairman of the Detroit automaker, said in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that former UAW President Ron Gettelfinger doesn't get enough credit for helping to shore up the books during Ford's "darkest hour."
Compare Symbolic Hero Rebirth, the first of the dark hours. May overlap with Near-Villain Victory. The Cornered Rattle Snake is someone who begins to fight back despite appearing to have no chance of survival. Hope Springs Eternal is the natural conclusion of such a moment... unless, of course, the story features a Downer Ending. A Second Chapter Cliffhanger is often characterized by this.
The Trope Namer is a proverb that claims that "The darkest hour is just before the dawn," but its exact origins are uncertain. Most likely, English theologian and historian Thomas Fuller was the first one to say something like it in his 1650 religious travelogue A Pisgah-Sight Of Palestine And The Confines Thereof, where it is quoted, "It is always darkest just before the Day dawneth."
Professional Wrestling
- During 1934, professional wrestling was almost killed off in New York when Jack Pfefer, an ostracized promoter whom few liked, decided to get revenge on his rivals by exposing their business as fake and then promoting his own brand of "theater" style pro wrestling. Thus one of the few affordable forms of entertainment during the depression became a laughingstock in the state, with gates plummeting and news sources refusing to continue covering it. The New York territories would recover in 1942, largely thanks to the athletics of Antonino Rocca.
- Ring of Honor's darkest hour was May 22nd 2004, in the wake of the Rob Feinstein scandal, said co founder was fired, ROH lost its distribution company, it was unable to host Maryland Championship Wrestling's Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup also because of said scandal, several of their best talents including champions were barred from returning by TNA and their Generation Next event was held in a tent due to them being kicked out of an armory on account of the US Army needing it to fight a war against Iraq. During the event, the fan votes to determine who were the best of the new wrestlers ROH had managed to bring in were trashed by Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Jack Evans and Alex Shelley, on the basis they were the best the company had to offer... the interest they generated may have ironically ended being one of the things that saved the company.
- TNA has faced near-death so many times since the end of the Hogan/Bischoff era that many believe the company will never die. That being said, late 2016 was undoubtedly its most dire period. TNA went through another major exodus of talent (prior exoduses had destroyed its previously stacked roster to the point that only two of the TNA Originals, Abyss and James Storm, were left in the company), had gotten kicked out of their original headquarters and forced to move into their merchandise warehouse, and then in October, information was released on the internet detailing its many legal woes, including multiple lawsuits from multiple parties, one of them being from its own President, Billy Corgan, and a tax lien from the state of Tennessee. Dixie Carter, TNA's owner, resisted Billy's attempts to buy the company, and her constant lying and screwing over Corgan (who was well-liked by the talent) eventually caused the entire roster to sour on her. The company was saved (yet again) by Anthem, who would buy out Corgan and TNA and leave Dixie with a 5% stake, before kicking her upstairs.
Tabletop Games
- The Dark Age Era in BattleTech, the Exarch of the Republic of the Sphere Devlin Stone disappears, and the HPG network collapses from an unknown attacker, this riles every faction to turn on each other. It's eventually revealed that Stone went into cryogenic suspension and rigged the HPG failure himself, with the intention of returning in several decades time and "fix" everything to be humanity's savior once again. Instead, he was woken up early by someone who managed to track him down, only to find that in his absence the Republic of the Sphere had nearly collapsed and was about to be overwhelmed by Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon. He lived long enough to see the two clans conquer Terra, ending the Republic once and for all.
- Magic: The Gathering graces us with Darkest Hour.
- As far as the storyline is concerned, this point is reached when Yawgmoth personally manifests himself on Dominaria.
- New Phyrexia. If you haven't gleaned how that's a Darkest Hour from the title, the Phyrexians have invaded another plane. This time, they've won. From what's been spoiled so far, it seems as if they've been able to infect mana itself. The multiverse is screwed.
- The current page image takes place on the plane of Innistrad. The only thing keeping the humans of Innistrad from becoming lunch for the resident zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts and demons is faith in the archangel Avacyn. Avacyn has gone MIA and the wards and holy weapons are starting to fail, leaving them all but defenseless.
- Done again in the interim between Shadows Over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon. Avacyn has now gone mad, driving the whole plane insane with her, and Sorin saw it fit to erase her to bring an end to the madness. All this accomplished, however, is that it's removed the last line of defense for Innistrad and allowed Emrakul to encroach on the plane, twisting everything around her. And Sorin is no longer around to defend the plane after Nahiri trapped him in the Helavault out of spite.
- Hour of Devastation serves as one for the entire Gatewatch arc. After spending the last few blocks solving crises, like defeating Ulamog and Kozilek on Zendikar, repelling Emrakul in Innistrad, and leading the rebellion to victory against the Consulate in Kaladesh, here in Amonkhet, the God-Pharaoh Nicol Bolas descends, and the Gatewatch are utterly powerless against him. All its members are defeated and forced to scatter; Jace is separated from the group as he gets trapped on Ixalan, while the first chapters of Dominaria involve the rest of the Gatewatch dealing with the fallout.
- This pops up a couple of times in Traveller:
- After the collapse of the First Imperium, the relatively short reign of the Second Imperium (the Rule of Man) only postponed the decline of civilisation. Advanced technology was lost and interstellar trade broke down, leaving thousands of worlds isolated at best and, at worst, unable to support life without technology. This lasted nearly 2,000 years before the Sylean Federation, one of the few groups to retain interstellar travel, became the Third Imperium and set about restoring civilisation.
- The New Era: After the Third Imperium was torn apart by Civil War over the course of the previous edition (MegaTraveller), The Virus (literally a sentient computer virus) was released, destroying life across known space. According to sourcebooks published after GDW went under, Virus was eventually defeated and a Fourth Imperium rising from the ashes.
- Warhammer 40,000: The Horus Hersey. Horus has besieged Terra, and the traitor legions have ravaged the entire planet, and the Emperor and only 3 of his Space Marine legions are all that stand against Horus and his 8 traitor legions.
- Long Night, War of the Beast, The Beheading, Reign of Blood, Three Tyranical Wars, Black Crusades, they all qualify. Imperium (and pre-Imperium) accumulated quite a lot of those over 15,000 years. Yes, humanity survived by the skin of their teeth, but it suffered crucial irrecoverable losses each time. The current period in lore is called Time of Ending and, let's say, the name works.
- The entire Yu-gi-oh franchise hits this with the release of Pe Pe. In the lore this represents the end of the world and Sophia's awakening. In the metagame this was an invincible Tier 0 deck only beatable by Monarchs and Kozmo. In the anime this was the darkest arc yet introducing a truly terrible Fantastic Caste System.
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