The Second Plot Point: The ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ & Why It Works

By this point in the story, your protagonist has fought, struggled, adapted, and failed. They’ve had victories, but they’ve also suffered devastating losses—especially at the Second Pinch Point, which should have shattered their confidence.

And now?

They hit rock bottom.

The Second Plot Point—also known as the Dark Night of the Soul—is the moment when everything collapses. It’s the point where the protagonist has nothing left—no plan, no hope, no way forward.

And yet, this is also the moment where they become who they need to be to win.

If the First Plot Point kicked off the protagonist’s journey…
If the Midpoint pushed them into action…
If the Second Pinch Point crushed them under the weight of their failures…

Then the Second Plot Point is the moment where they must either transform or lose everything.

This is the final, lowest moment before the climax begins—and if done right, it’s one of the most powerful moments in your novel.

Why the Second Plot Point Matters

By now, your protagonist has done some heavy lifting. They survived the First Plot Point (the big push into the unknown), the midpoint shift (where they started being proactive), and the Second Pinch Point (which tested them again, forcing them to realize just how scary the antagonist is). But they haven’t truly faced the worst of it yet.

That worst part? It’s right here. Around the 75% mark, everything crumbles. Whatever illusions of hope or control they clung to are ripped away. If the Second Pinch Point was a gut punch, the Second Plot Point is the knockout blow that drops them to their knees.

They can’t just soldier on—because they’ve lost. It strips the protagonist of everything they thought they had. And sometimes the best stories are the ones where you genuinely believe the hero might not recover.

For more on the turning points that propel your story into the final act, check out The Final Battle: How to Deliver a Satisfying Climax (Without Leaving Readers Numb).

This moment accomplishes four big things:

1. Destroys Their Last Vestiges of Confidence
   • The hero’s old methods fail, or an ally betrays them, or their plan disintegrates in a spectacular fashion.
2. Forces Them to Confront Their Core Flaw or Fear
   • They can’t dodge it anymore. If they don’t grow, they’ll lose everything.
3. Puts All Future Victory in Doubt
   • Readers should wonder if a comeback is even possible.
4. Sets the Stage for the Final Act
   • Once they emerge from this darkness, they’ll have the resolve (or the desperation) to face the climax.

If you’re writing a story with big emotional stakes, you need a moment where the hero is stripped bare. Because only by hitting that low do they transform into someone capable of winning the finale.

The Anatomy of the Second Plot Point

A great Second Plot Point does three things:

1. It Takes Away the Protagonist’s Last Hope

Everything they’ve been fighting for? Gone.
The plan they were counting on? It fails.
The mentor or ally they depended on? Lost.

This isn’t just another setback.

This is THE setback—the one that breaks them completely.

• That newfound ally is captured, or reveals themselves as a traitor.
• The weapon is destroyed, or discovered to be useless.
• The antagonist outsmarts them in a particularly brutal way.

Examples:

• The Hunger Games: Katniss thinks she might cheat the system, but the Gamemakers change the rules back—meaning Peeta or Katniss must die. She’s forced to see how ruthless the Capitol truly is.
• The Dark Knight: Batman believed he could handle the Joker’s chaos, then Joker forces him into a choice that ends with Rachel’s death and Harvey Dent’s transformation. Batman’s moral high ground cracks.

Example: The Empire Strikes Back

• Midpoint: Luke is training with Yoda, starting to believe in his abilities.
• Second Pinch Point: Darth Vader captures Han, Leia, and the others—forcing Luke to abandon his training.
• Second Plot Point: "I am your father." Luke’s entire sense of self is shattered.

At this moment, he doesn’t know what to believe anymore.

2. It Forces the Protagonist to Confront Their Greatest Fear

This isn’t just another plot beat. It’s the moment the hero questions whether they should keep going. Often, they feel personally responsible for the disaster, or they see a core belief shattered. Some classic meltdown examples:

• The detective who realizes their suspect is someone they love, and they can’t bear to arrest them.
• The warrior who becomes the monster they swore they’d never be, crossing a moral line for the sake of victory and hating themselves for it.
• The chosen one who discovers they’re actually the cause of the darkness or cursed in a way they can’t undo.

Every protagonist has a deep fear or flaw that has held them back.

This is the moment where they must face it—or be destroyed by it.

The key is that they see no way forward. Any remaining illusions are stripped away, leaving them raw. That’s what “dark night” literally implies: it’s pitch-black in their world.

Examples:

• Frodo believes he’s too weak to carry the Ring any further—but Sam won’t let him quit.
• Neo thinks he’s not The One—but he chooses to risk everything for Morpheus anyway.
• Katniss realizes the Capitol will never let her win—so she decides to break the system instead.

This is the moment where the protagonist stops fighting for the wrong reasons and finally understands what they truly need to do.

3. It Creates a Moment of True Despair

After the Second Plot Point, the protagonist should have a moment of quiet devastation—a scene or two where the protagonist is at their lowest. It’s often a quiet reflection or an argument with a trusted companion, or even a lonely monologue to themselves.

This moment should feel still. Hopeless. Like the protagonist has nothing left to give. And that’s what makes their rise in the Final Act so powerful. This hush amplifies their hopelessness so that the final act can be a blazing contrast.

Examples:

• Frodo in The Lord of the Rings being captured by orcs while Sam thinks all is lost.
• Harry Potter, after losing a mentor, feeling that Dumbledore’s secrets have left him more alone than ever.
• Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs, cut off from the FBI, alone in Buffalo Bill’s lair, with no backup.

Second Plot Point vs. Second Pinch Point: The Crucial Difference

It’s easy to confuse these two, but they serve distinct roles:

• Second Pinch Point (~60-65%): The antagonist delivers a harsh reminder of their power. The hero is rattled but still standing.
• Second Plot Point (~75%): The hero’s entire world crumbles. If the pinch was a deep cut, this is a mortal wound—figuratively or literally.

Katniss Example

1. Second Pinch Point: Rue’s death. Emotional blow, but Katniss is still in the Game. She’s horrified, but not entirely broken.
2. Second Plot Point: The Gamemakers’ rule change (she must kill Peeta or he must kill her). Now her victory strategy disintegrates. She faces an impossible moral choice—everything she’s done feels undone.

How to Make It Devastating

1. Link It to the Hero’s Deepest Flaw

If your hero’s flaw is pride, let them fail because of an arrogant miscalculation. If it’s fear of abandonment, let them push an ally away or watch a friend die because they wouldn’t accept help. This ensures the hero can’t just blame external forces—they know their shortcoming contributed.

2. Ramp the Stakes to Maximum

They shouldn’t just lose a minor skirmish. They lose something (or someone) that feels integral to their plan or emotional drive. A mentor, a piece of crucial evidence, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

3. Focus on the Emotional Fallout

One paragraph of “He was sad” won’t cut it. Let the hero wrestle with guilt, denial, rage, or despair in a tangible, heart-wrenching scene. If they see no path forward, we feel that dread too.

4. Set Up the Need for an Internal Shift

The hero must realize they can’t win with their current mindset or methods. Something has to change. That seed of insight might be faint, but it’s the spark that’ll ignite Act Three.

The “Rise from the Ashes” Setup

In many stories, the hero’s darkest moment is immediately followed by a glimmer of hope—a friend arrives unexpectedly, or they recall a piece of advice that leads to a new strategy, or they find a small clue that cracks the antagonist’s defenses. The second plot point knocks them flat, and that next moment of faint hope (or a pep talk from a beloved sidekick) is what propels them into the final act.

Without the second plot point’s depth, that hope might feel unearned. We need to see the hero truly broken so that their final push resonates.

Pitfalls and How to Dodge Them

1. It’s not devastating enough.
The second plot point should be the direst crisis so far. If your hero shrugs it off in a page or two, it’s not a real low point. If the protagonist still has a backup plan, it’s not strong enough.

2. It’s not personal.
If this moment doesn’t shatter the protagonist emotionally, it’s too weak. If the hero never faces the fact that their flaw contributed to this disaster, you miss a prime chance for growth. Let them own their part.

3. It Doesn’t Shift the Narrative
If the protagonist doesn’t learn something crucial or change because of it, it’s not doing its job. After the second plot point, the story must feel changed. It can’t continue in the same gear. The hero either abandons hope or finds a renewed commitment—there’s no middle ground.

Key Questions to Test Your Second Plot Point

• Does the protagonist lose what matters most—like a crucial ally, resource, or sense of self?
• Does it force them to confront their core fear/flaw head-on?
• Is it clear they can’t proceed unless they change fundamentally?
• Does it pave the way for a final act that feels urgent and earned?
• Does it take away the protagonist’s last hope?
• Does it force them to confront their greatest flaw or fear?
• Does it feel like the lowest, darkest moment of the story?
• Does it set up their final transformation?

The best Second Plot Points don’t just move the plot forward—they break the protagonist so they can be rebuilt. If you answer yes across the board, your second plot point is poised to shatter hearts (including your protagonist’s).

Break Them, So They Can Rebuild Themselves

The second plot point is where your hero stares into the metaphorical abyss. That flash of despair is critical because it’s the last major forge that shapes them into who they must become. They realize: No plan, no safety net, no illusions—just me and this conflict. It hurts. It’s humiliating. It’s tragic. Yet it’s exactly the spark that readies them for the final battle.

The Second Plot Point is where everything dies—so that the protagonist can finally rise again.

Make it painful. Make them question everything. Make them earn their victory.

Because when they finally step into the Final Act, they should no longer be the person they were before.

This is the moment they become who they were meant to be.

Without it, the climax can feel too easy, like the hero breezed through adversity. But with a well-timed, crushing second plot point, you set up a final act where victory (or defeat) actually means something. It’s the excruciating low that makes the triumphant rise (or tragic fall) resonate. So don’t shortchange your hero’s darkest hour—push them right to the brink, and maybe a little over it. Because that’s where stories go from decent to unforgettable.

For additional insight into how pivotal turning points reshape your protagonist’s journey, see The Midpoint Shift: Why Passive Characters Kill Novels.

The Final Battle Flashback

The idea and concept of a second plot point is pretty universal, and the notes above will definitely help. However, I've noticed some discrepancies and found a more effective solution about where exactly to place it.

I struggled with conclusions and endings, because the dark night of soul didn't match up perfectly with this sudden, transformative realization. I've come to rely on an alternative strategy, which is fairly common in use but less common in instruction:

Consider these two characteristics about the 2nd plot point:

• It forces them to confront their deepest flaw or fear.
• It presents them with a choice—give up or fight back.

I feel like both of those are true: after the second plot point is the girding the loins or the pep-talk with a friend... someone convinces them to keep going despite losing everything; or even when there's almost no hope. Before they have a plan, before they have certainty, they act anyway - ready to sacrifice themselves to this hopeless cause!

But the deeper, soul-searching, epiphany comes (in my opinion) later, in the middle of the final battle scene. They have to go into it blind and be surprised, or they would never experience the "hero at the hands of the villain" scene, where they have truly, actual lost. They've never actually been THIS low before; this is lower than the dark night of the soul, but without the anguish, because they are ready. They've accepted their fate.

And then there's only last final twist: usually because of an ally they helped or a realization they've discovered about themselves or their antagonist - often this is some secret truth; or it's the villain's plans like in a James Bond movie.

We have to FULLY know what is TRULY at stake here; but if we knew all of those details earlier, then there wouldn't have been any suspense or intrigue.

So all of the final details, what will be lost, what this failure will cost them, really sinks in. This can even be the villain threatening the hero's friends or family. We have spent the entire story, giving a character things to care about, so that they can be threatened here.

And it's all of these things, that come together somehow (many times in some kind of montage or flashback showing the "world worth saving") that gives the hero that last flare of energy or insight or craftiness to defeat the antagonist.

It can't be power or skill or strength, because that would be obvious and predictable. It has to be something else - usually just because the protagonist is the good guy; their established "goodness" allows them to triumph, or the "goodness" of the world they are determined to save.

This info actually belongs in the next section about final battle scenes, but it's important to bring up here - because you may have already been exploring these pieces and may have struggled like I did, to fit them into the "second plot point" when they would be more effective in the middle of the final battle scene.

Ultimately it depends on what works best for your story.

Ready to craft a turning point that transforms your hero and leaves your readers breathless? Try Sudowrite now!