Happily Ever After: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|'''Willy Wonka:''' But, Charlie, don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he ever wanted.<br />

'''Charlie:''' What's that?<br />

 

So, we've had a whole love story. The main couple have passed through all the possible obstacles separating them: physical distance, a [[Love Triangle]], a properly jealous villain ([[Alpha Bitch]], maybe), maybe even the [[Big Bad]] (common in epic fairy tales). Now, they are [[Kissing Tropes|kissing]] each other [[Against the Setting Sun|at sunset]] as the very well known words are narrated:

However, this ending is so classic it's sometimes considered a [[Discredited Trope]], or even a [[Undead Horse Trope|Un]][[Dead Horse Trope]]. It is often a subject to [[Satire, Parody, Pastiche|parody]], and is frequently avoided in favor a [[Twist Ending]].

 

 

 

Interestingly enough, this is something of a [[Dead Unicorn Trope]], as many of the older fairy tales had endings that provided [[An Aesop]], however [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|unfriendly]].

'''As this ''is'' an ending trope, unmarked spoilers abound.'''

 

 

{{examples}}

== Anime & Manga ==

 

** Actually they did show Sakura successfully hugging Syaoran in the end, although indirectly [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110210042711/ccs/images/thumb/3/3d/Ccs26.jpg/742px-Ccs26.jpg in the bonus art released later.] So yeah, it counts.

* Heavily implied in [[Tokyo Godfathers]].

 

== Film (Animated) ==

 

* The [[Discworld]] novels often [[Deconstruction|deconstruct]] this rather fiercely, especially ''Witches Abroad''. While many end happily, it's the "ever after" part that doesn't hold up past the start of the next book.

* Regardless of what [[Fanon Discontinuity|some fans think about it]], the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' epilogue shows this happening to the heroes.

* Subverted in ''[[Atonement]]'', in which the narrator Briony, who pulled an [[I Should Write a Book About This]], says she wanted to give her sister and her lover a happy ending, but {{spoiler|in reality both are dead.}}

* Subverted in ''[[Candide]]''. The title character has reunited with his love and Pangloss goes on another diatribe about how this is the best of all possible worlds. Only the girl is sunburned, leathery, and peevish from outdoor labor and, with all the tragedy Candide gamely suffers throughout the story, he politely tells Pangloss to shove it.

** On the other hand, the point of the book is that "If this is not the best of all possible worlds, it is at least not the worst", and Candide manages to find ''some'' satisfaction in his new life. "We must all tend our garden."

* ''Exaggerated'' in [[Tom Holt]]'s ''[[Flying Dutchman|Flying Dutch]]''. [[Happily Ever After]] really ''means'' something when the elixir of life is a major plot point.

* [[The Dark Tower]] plays with the phrase: {{spoiler|when Susannah enters the door in front of the Dark Tower and finds herself in another alternate version of New York City, she meets alternate version of Eddie and Jake, and in this universe they apparently are brothers and they already know her. It's stated that "Will I tell you that these three lived happily ever after? I will not, for no one ever does. But there was happiness. And they did live."}}

** At the ending of ''[[The Eyes of the Dragon]]'' there is a similar statement: "Did they all live happily ever after? They did not. No one ever does, in spite of what the stories may say. They had their good days, as you do, and they had their bad days, and you know about those. They had their victories, as you do, and they had their defeats, and you know about those, too. There were times when they felt ashamed of themselves, knowing that they had not done their best, and there were times when they knew they had stood where their God had meant them to stand. All I'm trying to say is that they lived as well as they could, each and every one of them; some lived longer than others, but all lived well, and bravely."

** ''Breaking Dawn'' ends with all of vampire Bella's problems solved as she heads home to have sex with her eternally young and attractive husband. And despite several "battles" throughout the four books, all of the main characters survived.

** The final chapter is actually ''titled'' "The Happily Ever After".

* The [[Left Behind]] book series ends this way for the believers. Everyone else goes to Hell.

* ''An Exercise in Futility'': {{spoiler|Emperor Kathelm doubles the size of the empire and gets over his insecurities.}}

* In Norton Juster's ''The Dot and the Line'', after the Line learns to be more dynamic and wins the heart of the Dot, the two are said to live "happily ever after, or at least reasonably so."

 

== Live Action TV ==

And there's a happy ending, of course! }}

* Parodied in ''The Stoned Guest'' by P.D.Q. Bach. This "half-act opera" would end with a [[Kill'Em All]], except then the entire cast inexplicably rises again to sing a final chorus. It even ends on the words, "Happy ending!"

 

== Video Games ==

 

* You get to joke about the possibility with Liara in [[Mass Effect 2]] (end of Lair of the Shadow Broker if romanced in first game), but we don't know whether it is a possibility yet.

{{quote| '''Liara:''' If this all ends tomorrow Shepard, what happens with us.<br />

'''Shepard:''' [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|I don't know. Marriage, old age, and a lot of little blue children.]] }}

* The ending of [[Neverwinter Nights 2]] Mask of the Betrayer, in which you can end up going back home after a few more adventures and settling down with Safiya/Gann.

 

== Visual Novels ==

 

 

== Webcomics ==

* Even ''[[Cyanide and Happiness]]'' [http://www.explosm.net/db/files/Comics/Dave/comiccricketsnew1.png had one of these]

* [[The Dreamland Chronicles]] [http://www.thedreamlandchronicles.com/the-dreamland-chronicles/todays-dreamland-chronicles-600/ Confidently predicted]

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3619 Fuschia reads a story that ends like this, and Baby Blue really doesn't like it.]

 

== Web Original ==

 

* [[Multiple Endings|One ending]] of ''[[Three Worlds Collide]]'' makes living happily ever after ''horrifying''. Happiness is overrated.

* [[Wrestlecrap|RD Reynolds]] writes in his ''No Holds Barred'' [http://www.wrestlecrap.com/classic35.html induction] "And thus everyone lives happily ever after... Well, except for [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Brell]] and [[The Antagonist|Zeus]], since they're dead."

== Western Animation ==

 

* Every [[Don Bluth]] movie too. In fact, Bluth has gone on record to say that as long as the story ends [[Happily Ever After]], then kids can handle whatever dark and depressing stuff happens beforehand (and in Bluth's earlier movies, happen it does.)

* ''[[WALL-E]]'': Played straight as the love-struck robots kiss at the end while the humans rediscover their humanity. The epilogue shows human civilization advancing back to full glory.

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': After some of the darker undertones of the series, the ending is downright saccharine.

** "And they all lived [[Happily Ever After]], except for Pocket who died of hepatitis B."

** "And they all lived [[Happily Ever After]], except for Kyle who died of AIDS two weeks later."

*** [[Crowning Moment of Funny|"Goddamnit Cartman!"]]

 

{{reflist}}