Why does the Devil Always Seem to Lose?

[Erja_Perttu]

Because the Devil got chucked outta heaven and ever since then God's been thinking up ways to humiliate him. Voila!

 

[Panzer_God]

Especially since we all know that the Devil would have melted Johnny's fiddle if he had even been close to the devil's work. The devil would cheat and he would never lose.

 

[Abedeus]

He seems to lose everytime he plays music.

Obviously, you haven't seen the robot devil play the fiddle.

What? He was beaten with a drum solo.

Also, if you want to see the Devil win, play Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor on DS.

Spoiler: pretty big one, if you aren't at least at the 5th day of the game

You have the chance to become the Lord of the Demons, in other words, the Devil. Either for good or evil. Or you can just escape your destiny and evil takes over the world, it's your choice...

Really, don't click on the spoiler if you want to play the game or are playing it now and didn't get to day 4-5.


edit: Ooh, ooh, I remember! Try playing Dungeons and Dragons with me. I usually make some kind of horrible twist, like... the person that you were gathering artifacts for was actually a demon that used fiendish magic to impersonate the holy guy/gal. And the only way to stop the bad guy now is to sacrifice a being of a great power.

So if you don't kill someone from your team, the archdevil will come... and while you CAN kill him (making a challenge impossible is dumb), your players would still rather kill someone (or a rogue can backstab with a Sneak Attack in the middle of a fight) than fight such creature.

...Unless they have some Dismiss scrolls.

 

[Insert Comedy Here]

He loses because he bets against himself to win. Seriously, we all bet for him to win the gigantic showdown of good versus evil, say, about forty dollars per person.
Count that to the amount of people there are in the world, for arguments sake, let's say seven billion, I ain't doing a headcount.

Forty X Seven Billion = Two hundred and eighty billion.

He does this so he can return to Hell to be a significantly richer Satan, and so he can invest in real estate.

Didn't South Park teach you anything?

 

[Chibz]

But the Devil is prophesied to lose, isn't he?
In the original canon?

The concept of the original canon is one I find interesting. Depends on which original you're reffing, there.

On topic, though, it's because evil winning is really boring. If he came out and won, it would have been the outcome that everyone saw as predetermined (Think Satan v. Jesus Boxing Match). When the devil loses, that person that he lost too is obviously supreme, great, fantastic, maybe just an alright guy who's no longer out to prove himself to the world, or something. It's the same reason we root for the underdog, because that story is better. If the giant titanic powerhouse wins against the newly-arisen young hero with something to prove, then we all could have just said "Yup, saw that coming, silly blighter, shouldn't have done that, and could someone get a mop, please?" It's all about the story.

But there's the problem. If the underdog always wins, is he still the underdog? It's a rather safe assumption that the protagonist will win. Especially if he's an underdog, got something to prove, etc. It's dried up, boring now. Overdone.

 

[Andalusa]

People like the way good trumps evil. It makes them feel better about themselves.

 

[axia777]

Because when you get down to it in the Christan mythos the Devil, Lucifer, is really just a pissed off child who told daddy(God) to piss off. So daddy(God) sends him to have some time out in Hell. Really harsh time out, but God could have just disintegrated Lucifer right?

Plus screenplay/book writers really like having people feel good at the end of movies/books. Good winning makes people feel good and happy.

 

[Mordwyl]

Just all the valour and honour fantasy that people want in reality, so is the part where evil gets the short end of the shtick.

Reality bites, evil people do screw up everyone else and unfortunately it's predominant in the hands of people with power like the suspected oil companies assassinating the scientist which reached a breakthrough in finding an alternative energy source besides fossil fuels just so they can squeeze more life from the planet and money from our pockets. :\

 

[aruseusx]

Would youj prefer it if Dave Grohl was sodomising Kyle Gass.

 

[riskroWe]

Anyone who's actually trying to be creative will always have a good reason for why the devil loses. Otherwise the hero's victory seems hollow and arbitrary.
Like it does in just about every film ever made.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

This is, fundamentally, a religious issue. Those who created god to win, created the devil to lose. That's pretty much what it comes down too, as for it's use in media(i.e Tenacious D) well in this case, would you really want K.G and Jables to lose the battle, I mean who would pay the rent?

 

[Versagen]

On topic, though, it's because evil winning is really boring. If he came out and won, it would have been the outcome that everyone saw as predetermined (Think Satan v. Jesus Boxing Match). When the devil loses, that person that he lost too is obviously supreme, great, fantastic, maybe just an alright guy who's no longer out to prove himself to the world, or something. It's the same reason we root for the underdog, because that story is better. If the giant titanic powerhouse wins against the newly-arisen young hero with something to prove, then we all could have just said "Yup, saw that coming, silly blighter, shouldn't have done that, and could someone get a mop, please?" It's all about the story.

I think evil winning is more interesting than the good guys always winning, every single time. It could start by a normal guy being wronged by the Good Guy and he sets out to overthrow the Good Guys that rule the Happy Fun-Time Country, but he winds up being evil. And still wins. And destroys Happy Fun-Time Country and creates a slave-state, thinking that it's for the best.

I guess I just want something beyond the good guys always winning, evil always losing. Especially when the evil guys are so stupid and incompetent that it's shocking that anyone fears them. u.u

 

[Biosophilogical]

Ask yourself does anyone want to see the devil win.

I do...I'll umm..be umm...going now..kay?

 

[leady129]

You haven't played Alone in the Dark yet, have you?

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Because he was being a butt

 

[Beartrucci]

becausehe is the enemy,if he wins,the protaginist loses

plus everyone hates him,or dresses up in red garbs and make sacrifices to him,during which time they have no time for movie watching.

the demographics for devil lovers is quite low

that and religious groups would be ticked off if he won

besides,tenacious-d lost,they cheated by reflecting the death beam,remember?

What would happen if the Devil was the protaganist?

 

[AvsJoe]

Why is it the Devil seems to lose in everything?

Because he's clearly winning in real life and we need an escape from it in our games and movies and music et al. My opinion anyway...

 

[Church256]

This arguement is why I would make the evil in my game every single ending. Different endings for what you do but all of them are ultimate failures. Like you save the human race but we're all now slaves of an overlordish alien race. Or you saved all the humans but Earth was destroyed and we're adrift in space with nowhere to go. Real fun endings.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Better question is, why does the Devil keep doing what he does, if he's destined to lose anyway?

Because it's all a diversion from the real plan...