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Happily Ever Before: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Primarily a [[Film]] trope. So, you're a Hollywood producer who has found this [[The Film of the Book|great story that would make an even greater movie]]. It has everything you need: [[Character Development|intriguing characters]], an [[Emotional Torque|epic adventure]], cool [[Fight Scene
So what do you do? You could just change the ending to what you think would be better. But, no, you're [[Genre Savvy]] enough to know how the loyal fans of the original would go online and [[Hatedom|tear you to shreds]] with complaints while blinded by [[Merchandise-Driven|dollar signs]] and launch a few petitions boycotting the project while they're at it. Besides, that would be [[They Just Didn't Care|dishonest]].
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When adding examples, please avoid general examples that are not specifically choosing a happier or darker point to end the story at instead of completing it. Anything besides that falls under other [[Media Adaptation Tropes]].
{{endingtrope}}
{{examples
=== Anime and Manga ===
* The ending of the ''[[Fruits Basket]]'' anime. It gets darker in the manga... which then ends on an extremely [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|idealistic note]], with [[The Power of Love]] prevailing, and [[Pair the Spares|most of the cast getting into a stable relationship]]. They just [[Earn Your Happy Ending|had to do a little more to earn it, first]].
* The ''[[Narutaru]]'' anime. The only thing the audience got there was a half-assed [[Left Hanging]] "ending"
* The ''[[Suzuka]]'' anime ends with the [[Official Couple]] getting together. The manga ends with {{spoiler|an unplanned pregnancy}} forcing the [[Official Couple]] to abandon the dreams that drove the [[Sports Story Tropes|Sports Story]] side of the plot.
* While [[Elfen Lied]] doesn't end on an exactly happy note, [[Bittersweet Ending|it doesn't]] [[It Got Worse|get worse]].
* The manga version of [[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]] ends on a slightly more bittersweet note than the anime by explicitly stating that Hanon and Rina will eventually have to choose their kingdoms over their human boyfriends.
* In ''[[Mai-Otome
* The anime version of ''[[Berserk]]'' provides the inversion of this trope, ending with {{spoiler|Guts losing his hand and eye and Casca getting raped by Griffith as Femto}} and leaving out {{spoiler|the two of them being saved by the Skull Knight in a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment}} from the manga. This was mainly because, unlike the manga, {{spoiler|the Skull Knight}} didn't appear at all in the anime as the anime's focus was the Golden Age arc and how Guts got from there to his circumstances in episode one, and {{spoiler|having him and Casca saved like this}} would have been rightly viewed as a [[Deus Ex Machina]]. And as the Berserk example above shows, this is really a mix of both, since it just gets worse from there.▼
** ''Berserk'''s [[Spiritual Successor]] ''[[Claymore]]'' also had a [[Downer Ending]] for its anime version followed by more upbeat events in the manga.▼
▲* In [[Mai-Otome]] Sifr, Lena succeeds in rescuing Sifr from Schwarz and the Five Columns and comes to terms with being an Otome. Within a few years, she, Bruce and Sifr are killed during the attack on Windbloom Castle.
=== [[Film]] ===
* Actually used to [[Bolivian Army Ending|a brilliant effect]] in ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]'': {{spoiler|the last shot of the movie freeze-frames literally the instant before the two heroes are gunned down, leaving us with a final image of the two in which they are very much alive, and doing what they do best.}}
* ''[[The Golden Compass]]'' -- Yes, it was a [[Diabolus Ex Machina]], but it was also a little crucial to the rest of the trilogy happening ''at all''. It might, however, be pasted at the start of the sequel... [[Stillborn Franchise|(Which they won't be making.)]]
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* ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]'' ends with the heroes riding off into the sunset, leaving off the book's more ambiguous ending in which they are slowed down by various mishaps and the villain is shown to be on their trail. Then again, so did the book, kinda. (See the Literature section for details.)
* Many a [[Biopic]] chooses to end the story at the height of the hero's success (or perhaps their comeback). They might briefly acknowledge sad events that happened afterward, up to and including death, but that's all.
** Martin Scorsese's ''[[The Aviator]]'' somewhat averts this. It ends on a moment of total public triumph for Howard Hughes, but in the last scene Hughes suffers an obsessive-compulsive fit and is reduced to hiding away, helplessly staring into a darkened bathroom mirror and repeating "the way of the future."
** ''[[Ed Wood (film)|Ed Wood]]'' is pretty bad about this, as it ends immediately after the premiere of ''[[Plan 9 from Outer Space]]''. The alcoholism that destroyed [[Ed Wood (
** Averted hard in ''Pollock''. The last half of the film chronicles Pollock's wife leaving him, his subsequent depression and the ultimate consequences of his alcoholism throughout the film: the final scene depicts the car wreck that kills him.
* This ''almost'' happened with ''[[On Her Majesty's Secret Service]]'', with the original ending being [[James Bond|Bond]] and Tracy driving off happily. When George Lazenby [[Real Life Writes the Plot|announced he would quit]], Blofeld and Bunt killing Tracy was put in, rather than saved for the sequel.
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* The film version of ''The Getaway'' omits the final chapter of the book.
* The "Love Conquers All" ending of the American screening of [[Brazil (film)|Brazil]] is this, ending the movie right after a bizarre and trippy sequence that Sam discovers is [[All Just a Dream]]...but before the camera pulls away to show us that {{spoiler|it was all just a dream because his mind had snapped due to his torture.}}
* The [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]] ''[[Pocahontas]]'' sequel, ''Journey to a New World'', has a happy ending with Pocahontas setting sail back to the
* ''[[The Man Who Laughs]]'' does this, ending with Gwynplaine and Dea declaring their love for each other and sailing off together into the sunset. In the book {{spoiler|they both die shortly thereafter}}.
* Peter O'Toole's ''[[Sherlock Holmes]] and the Valley of Fear'' cut the downer ending. Unsurprising, since a) the adaptation was written for children and b) there wasn't enough time provided to establish the ending as a legitimate downer. What is surprising is that all explicit reference to ''Moriarty'' was removed.
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* The behind-the-scenes/rehearsal documentary ''[[Michael Jackson]]'s This Is It'' never acknowledges that the actual ''This Is It'' concerts didn't take place because Jackson died of a prescription drug overdose before they were scheduled to begin.
=== Literature ===▼
▲== Literature ==
* A number of adaptations of the ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'', especially the comics or animated versions, tend to end with the battle of Chi Bi, where Wei's army is resoundingly defeated by the alliance of Wu and Shu. It's the last time that things go so well, {{spoiler|as Wu and Shu turn against each other almost immediately after, culminating in the deaths of a number of major characters.}} And of course, the movies have a tendency to focus solely on that same battle.
* In the book ''Military Secret'' by A. Gaidar, a child, Al'ka, and his friends uncover a bandit conspiracy and help in getting the criminals arrested. But one of the criminals remains free, and kills Al'ka in the very end (before beng shot to death). The film adaptation, written by Gaidar himself, omits this.
* ''[[The Princess Bride (novel)|The Princess Bride]]'' does this ''in story'', with author [[William Goldman]]'s fictional father, who's been reading only "the good parts" of the story-within-a-story, leaving off the over-the-top [[No Ending]] paragraph which states that as the heroes ride into the sunset, Inigo's wound reopens, Fezzik takes a wrong turn, Buttercup's horse throws a shoe, and Humperdink is hot on their trail.
=== Music ===▼
▲== Music ==
* Most recordings and performances of the Irish folk song "The Rising of the Moon" these days cut the last verse, which describes how the rebels of the rebel song all meet a bitter end in the 1798 rebellion, leaving the song more upbeat and universal.
=== Western Animation ===▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* [[Disney Animated Canon]]:
** ''Hercules'' does not mention that Hercules eventually kills Megara and their children in a fit of madness set upon him by Hera. Of course, this Hercules is ''Hera's'' son, and she isn't even slightly antagonistic, and the whole thing's been thoroughly [[Disneyfication|Disneyfied]], so Herc and Meg are probably fine.
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* ''[[The Prince of Egypt]]'' ends just after the Hebrews cross the Red Sea and escape, with a [[Jump Cut]] to Moses bringing the Commandments down - skipping over that business with the ''calf'', the wandering in the desert, and omitting the ending where Moses dies on the Promised Land's doorstep.
** This sort of ending tends to occur in most adaptations of the Exodus story. It was even parodied in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "Simpsons Bible Stories"
{{quote|
'''Lisa:''' ''[consulting a scroll]'' Hmm, well, actually it looks like we're in for forty years of wandering the desert.
'''Milhouse/Moses''': Forty years? But after that, it's clear sailing for the Jews, right?
'''Lisa:''' ''[nervously]'' Uh-huh-hum, more or less -- hey, is that manna? }}
* The [[Speculative Documentary]] ''[[The Future Is Wild]]'', which is about what animals could eventually appear on our planet's surface in the distant future, apparantly begins with the start of a new ice age, and ends with the formation of a new supercontinent. The last episode apparantly ends with a closeup of the Sun in the sky, because it's going to play an important role after the series...
▲=== Examples of darker endings: ===
== Examples of darker endings ==
== Film ==▼
=== Anime and Manga ===
▲* The anime version of ''[[Berserk]]''
▲** ''Berserk'''s [[Spiritual Successor]] ''[[Claymore]]'' also had a [[Downer Ending]] for its anime version followed by more upbeat events in the manga.
▲=== Film ===
* ''[[Layer Cake]]'': While the book ends with the protagonist recovered from being shot and living a tranquil life in the Caribbean, the movie ends with the shooting in a way that implies his death.
* ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' initially ended with {{spoiler|Alex eventually straightening up and walking the straight and narrow on his own.}} However, publishers saw it as a [[Downer Ending]], {{spoiler|seeing as how they missed the ''entire point of the book'' and had fun with Alex's antics}}, and dropped the final chapter from the initial American publication. This extended to the film adaptation {{spoiler|which blatantly glorified Alex's anti-social behavior}}, something which famously annoyed author Anthony Burgess.
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