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Abstract: We use the avoidance of the trans-Planckian problem of Hawking radiation as a guiding principle in searching for a compelling scenario for the evaporation of black holes or black-hole-like objects. We argue that there exist only three possible scenarios, depending on whether the classical notion of long-lived horizon is preserved by high-energy physics and on whether the dark and compact astrophysical objects that we observe have long-lived horizons in the first place. Along the way, we find that i) a theory with high-energy superluminal signalling and a long-lived trapping horizon would be extremely unstable in astrophysical terms and that ii) stellar pulsations of objects hovering right outside but extremely close to their gravitational radius can result in a mechanism for Hawking-like emission