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Note that in this case, it should go without saying that the term " minor characters" does not include villains, even of the [[Mook]] variety, since we expect them to wind up worse off in the end.
Related to [[Protagonist-Centered Morality]], [[Inferred Holocaust]], [[Esoteric Happy Ending]], [[Everybody's Dead, Dave]], and [[Dwindling Party]]. If an [[Adam and Eve Plot
See also: [[What Happened to
=== '''As an [[Ending Trope]], all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.''' ===
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* Inverted in ''[[Code Geass]]'', where [[The Hero Dies|Lelouch dies]] and Suzaku [[Faking the Dead|fakes his death]] and forever takes on the identity of Zero, while the surviving main characters move on with their lives and attend Ohgi and Villetta's wedding.
* ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]''. Yeah, [[Official Couple|Miaka and Tamahome]] get their happy ending... Too bad the other Guardians of Suzaku are either trapped in a book or ''dead'' (and Miaka, at one point of the story, actually had the power to bring every one of them back to life and/or in the real world. But she resurrected only the guy she loves).
* In ''[[
== Comics ==
* In some [[Jack Chick]] tracts, the main Christian will talk to one non-believer, who gets more focus than the rest of the cast and goes to heaven in the end, while the other non-Christians are implied to go to Hell. One example is "The Trial"; the twist is that the plaintiff's daughter accepted Jesus when her friend, the defendant, told her, and the girl's mother and the witnesses called in to testify (authorities from other religions) go to Hell. Then again, it's just as common to invert this, as in "Busted" the main prosecutor goes to hell while his secretary gets converted (however, we don't hear [[What Happened to
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* In ''[[Hellboy II]]: The Golden Army'' the movie ends with Liz and Hellboy planning on their future together with their children. Abe Sapien, on the other hand, gets to mourn the death of his lost love, Princess Nuala, who [[Heroic Sacrifice|killed herself]] to stop her brother from destroying the human world.
** Well, Hellboy himself is still prophesized to bring destruction to the world... and to hurt Liz most of all. One would imagine that she'd be more conflicted than outright happy.
* ''[[Avatar (
* ''[[Signs]]'': Millions or billions of people have been killed or enslaved by the alien invasion, but God smiled on this one family and saved them so yay!
** Unlikely. It wouldn't be hard for the rest of humanity to come across the aliens' [[Weaksauce Weakness]].
* In ''[[Film/Memoirs Of A Geisha|Memoirs Of A Geisha]]'', Chiyo manages to unite with her beloved Chairman. Pumpkin is never heard from again, Mameha lives alone and without her beloved Baron, and General Nobu just stays away because "he can't forgive [Chiyo/Sayuri]".
* ''[[Red Riding Hood (
* ''[[
* The nuns in ''[[The Sound of Music]]''. The Nazis are certain to figure out that it was the nuns who sabotaged their car and enabled the Von Trapp family to escape. Things might get pretty unpleasant for Uncle Max, too.
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* In ''[[Breaking Dawn]]'', the main characters all get happy endings. Meanwhile, every other secondary character goes back to a nomadic life, presumably on the Volturi's target list.
* The epilogue of [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Shards of Honor]]'' starkly emphasizes that the leads may have gotten their happy ending, but a lot of innocent people died along the way.
* Discussed in ''[[Discworld
== Live Action Television ==
* This sort-of happens in ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]''. Both Robin Hood and Marian end up ''dead'', but they are given a [[Together in Death]] scene that suggests that they have an eternity in Heaven to share. Everyone else? Shot, stabbed, dead, buried, abandoned, forgotten, or stuck with [[Damsel Scrappy|Ka]][[Fate Worse Than Death|te]].
* Similar to the [[Family Guy]] example below, at the end of the second season premiere of [[
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* [[Older Than Steam]] [[Shakespeare|Shakespearean]] examples:
** ''[[Henry V]]'' ends with the wedding of the eponymous King and Princess Katherine of France after Henry fights a bloody war of conquest against his soon-to-be father-in-law. However, Shakespeare lampshades the trope by pointing out in the epilogue that Henry's conquests will be short-lived and his premature death will lead to a bloody civil war.
** In ''[[
== Video Games ==
* ''[[
* The ending of ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Mystery of the Emblem'' is bad for practically everyone except Marth, Caeda, and a few others.
* In ''[[The Secret of Monkey Island]]'', if you sink your ship with the catapultic rock thing, Herman Toothrot will take you back to Melee island instead of them, and in the ending you'll get a nice sequence about how they're trapped in the cannibal hut. ''[[Escape
* ''[[Star Ocean]]'' and ''[[
* Inverted in ''[[Dragon Age]]'' for a female Warden who was in a relationship with Alistair and didn't harden him, or for a male Warden who was in a relationship with Morrigan. Everyone '''but''' the leads (in your party anyway) gets a happy ending.
* Appears in ''[[Dragon Age 2]]'', where Kirkwall has been devastated, Thedas is rapidly approaching its first world war, and the entire band of heroes has been split up...except for Hawke and his/her [[Love Interest]].
** Only in the ending where you side with the Templars (you become ruler of Kirkwall). If you side with the mages you end up fleeing your home. [[Book Ends|Again.]]
* Subverted in [[Fallout: New Vegas]]. Depending on whether or not you do the side and the companion quests and depending on who you sided with (or not) the outcome for EVERYONE (except the courier) can be different come endgame.
* The best ending of ''[[Valkyrie Profile Covenant of the Plume]]'' has Wylfred finally find peace, his mother regain her sanity, and Tilte learning about Ancel's death and being able to grieve him properly instead of just sensing that something's plain wrong. [[Loads and Loads of Characters|The rest of the cast]], however, don't get featured at all in the ending and most of the characters that don't you meet but don't recruit get rather depressing ends. It doesn't help that the two other endings are [[Downer Ending|Downer Endings]].
* Somewhat averted in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] 2''. The Exile's team goes off to found the new Jedi Order, fix the damaged Republic, and shut down the HK-50's while she is condemned to flying off to die at the hands of the True Sith. It's implied in The Old Republic MMO that she did manage to do enough to set back the invasion for almost 300 years, but she still misses out on the oppurtunity to see all of her actions come to fruition or pursue a relationship with Atton or the Disciple.
* Split fifty-fifty for the main characters in ''[[
** Also split fifty-fifty for the rest of humanity (or rather, the handful survivors). They lost their homes and are forced to live under the harsh conditions of Gran Pulse and are no longer protected by the fal'Cie. Then again the Fal'cie were the villains are trying to ''kill all of them''. The main characters's final act [[Plan]] was to stop the Fal'cie and, failing at that, to mitigate the damage.
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