History EarnYourHappyEnding / Literature

* ''Literature/ADeadlyPresence'': For the black leopard, so much. He struggled a lot in this book but in the end the people in the zoo will care for him.

* The ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' series can fit into this trope. Cain sometimes gets really lucky, but we must recognize luck usually works as many times against him as in his favour, he still has to fight and figure out a way to save his life most of the time, but in the end, when he has managed to save the day (and usually the entire sector), he and his friends can go to a nice place to enjoy some amasec and tanna while tasting some delicacies. He managed to earn his retirement, which is to say something, considering the rate of casualties in the [[RedShirtArmy Imperial Guard]], and [[RetiredBadass after some decades he saved the world]] where he was (again), ensuring himself (again) his good retirement.

* Creator/HarlanEllison's 1961 novel ''Literature/SpiderKiss'' is a dark, cynical take on ThePowerOfRock where all the major characters are [[BlackAndGrayMorality morally compromised]], but protagonist Shelly Morgenstern manages to redeem himself. Throughout most of the story, Shelly is publicist for [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] singing star Stag Preston. This usually means keeping Stag's {{attempted rape}}s and [[TheAlcoholic drunken rampages]] out of the press, causing Shelly to become increasingly disgusted with both himself and Stag until he finally quits. Eventually, Stag's career tanks and his vocal chords are slashed by hired thugs, but he teaches himself to sing again. At the end of the novel, Shelly happens upon the UsefulNotes/NewOrleans strip club where Stag is now singing, and. Stag tells Shelly that if they renew their relationship, they could both return to the top. Shelly knows Stag is right, but he also knows that Stag is still a horrible person who doesn't ''deserve'' a second chance. Therefore, Shelly leaves Stag in the gutter where he belongs, regaining his self-respect in the process.

* [[spoiler:John Taylor]] and [[spoiler:Suzie Shooter]] from Simon R. Green's ''{{Literature/Nightside}}'' series. Though given how things work in the Nightside in general, and relating to [[spoiler:John and Suzie]] both together and individually, [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]] is almost more than they or pretty much everyone in the series would expect/hope for. Though in the [[CrapSackWorld Nightside]], Bittersweet ''IS'' happy when you put things in perspective. Of course [[TemptingFate there's still one final book left to finish the series,]] so it's possible they might not even get that.

* This is how most ''{{Redwall}}'' books turn out. They're all happy endings but a lot of friends are lost, and it's never easy.

* At the end of ''TheWheelOfTime'' books, millions are dead, many hundreds of thousands in the Last Battle alone, but [[spoiler: they've defeated or dealt with the all of the Forsaken, crushed the army of Shadowspawn, Darkfriends and Dreadlords, and Re-sealed the Dark One. They've lost a lot of people on the way, but they have an Age of prosperiety awaiting them.]]

* [[spoiler:John Taylor]] and [[spoiler:Suzie Shooter]] from Simon R. Green's ''{{Nightside}}'' series. Though given how things work in the Nightside in general, and relating to [[spoiler:John and Suzie]] both together and individually, [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]] is almost more than they or pretty much everyone in the series would expect/hope for. Though in the [[CrapSackWorld Nightside]], Bittersweet ''IS'' happy when you put things in perspective. Of course [[TemptingFate there's still one final book left to finish the series,]] so it's possible they might not even get that.

* Nearly every book by TimPowers runs on this trope, and few of his characters ever survive their arc without making some major sacrifice along the way, be it of blood, love, flesh, or memory.

* Creator/LloydAlexander's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain'': Taran becomes the King of Prydain and marries the girl of his dreams, but only after losing several friends (and many others [[ButNowIMustGo leaving forever]]) and having his idealistic image of a 'hero' shattered. Not only that, [[TheMagicGoesAway all the magic in the world is disappearing]], leaving him to rule a much-more-mundane kingdom. Even then his ending isn't [[BitterSweetEnding that happy]], but the afterword seems to indicate that he at least accepts it, as his fading into legend would indicate an ending that may not necessarily be ''happy'' but at least ''positive''.

* Creator/RobinHobb's later fantasy [[RealmOfTheElderlings trilogies]] ''The Liveship Traders'' and ''The Tawny Man'' go through an incredibly dark journey and emerge to a more or less happy ending.

* Probably the second most prominent feature of the works of JackChalker. Though they're often remembered more for their AuthorAppeal, all of the [[GenderBender Gender Benders]], [[ViralTransformation Viral Transformations]], [[BalefulPolymorph Baleful Polymorphs]] and just plain mutilations mean that it's a rare Chalker hero or heroine who survives their adventures physically or psychologically intact. There's even a soliloquy to this effect at the end of ''The Messiah Choice'' where a side character tells the hero (who had his genitals ''torn off'' while defeating the BigBad, who may have been the Devil incarnate) that real sacrifices must be horrific by definition and anything that isn't painful, life-altering and above all ''permanent'' doesn't count as a true sacrifice.

* LloydAlexander's ''Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain'': Taran becomes the King of Prydain and marries the girl of his dreams, but only after losing several friends (and many others [[ButNowIMustGo leaving forever]]) and having his idealistic image of a 'hero' shattered. Not only that, [[TheMagicGoesAway all the magic in the world is disappearing]], leaving him to rule a much-more-mundane kingdom. Even then his ending isn't [[BitterSweetEnding that happy]], but the afterword seems to indicate that he at least accepts it, as his fading into legend would indicate an ending that may not necessarily be ''happy'' but at least ''positive''.

* Heroine versions include ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/stories/norroway.html The Black Bull of Norroway]]'', ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/stories/enchpig.html The Enchanted Pig]]'', ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/stories/brownbear.html The Brown Bear of Norway]]'', ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/stories/whitewolf.html The White Wolf]]'', [[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm Grimms']] ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/beautybeast/stories/lark.html The Singing, Springing Lark]]'', and ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/index.html East of the Sun & West of the Moon]]''
* Hero versions include ''Literature/TheBlueMountains'', ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsenmoe/threeprincesseswhiteland.html The Three Princesses of Whiteland]]'', ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/swanmaiden/stories/serbian.html The Golden Apple Tree and the Nine Peahens]]'', ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/swanmaiden/index.html The Swan Maiden]]'', and ''Literature/SoriaMoriaCastle''.
* In ''Literature/CatherineAndHerFate'', Catherine, given the choice between happiness in youth and old age, picked old age. She then finds that her Fate will see to it that she must have a truly abject life until then, and soldiers on.
* Literature/CiaphasCain series can fit into this trope. Cain sometimes gets really lucky, but we must recognize luck usually works as many times against him as in his favour, he still has to fight and figure out a way to save his life most of the time, but in the end, when he has managed to save the day (and usually the entire sector), he and his friends can go to a nice place to enjoy some amasec and tanna while tasting some delicacies. He managed to earn his retirement, which is to say something, considering the rate of casualties in the [[RedShirtArmy Imperial Guard]], and [[RetiredBadass after some decades he saved the world]] where he was (again), ensuring himself (again) his good retirement.

* In ''Literature/VampireAcademy'', Rose finally gets her happy ending after [[spoiler:one of her closest friends dying, nearly going insane, the love of her life being turned Strigoi and gets eventually turned back after Rose nearly killing him twice, being tortured both through the bond with her best friend and actually tortured, getting accused of assassinating a monarch and nearly executed before she finds out that one of the people she trusts, likes and admires was the killer and set it all up on her.]]

** On a more individual level, Gara/Lara/Kirney's plotline through the [[XWingSeries Wraith Squadron]] books. She goes from an Imperial agent whose loyalty isn't deserved by those she serves, to a potential [[TheMole mole]] in Wraith Squadron, to [[BecomingTheMask a loyal member of said squadron]] who is [[DatingCatwoman in a relationship with a man, Myn, whose squadron she got destroyed when she was an Imperial]]. It probably comes as no surprise that her identity as a former Imperial Agent is revealed, and Myn ends up trying to kill her. Then she ends up back on an Imperial vessel, posing as a loyal soldier while actually sabotaging the ship for the benefit of the Republic. Then she's forced to fake her own death to avoid execution for treason from either side of the board. And all throughout this she suffers from SanitySlippage due to having a DoubleConsciousness brought on by the stress of her Intelligence background. [[spoiler: A (much) later book, ''Mercy Kill'' reveals that Myn found her, they got married, and had kids,]] but she went through a ''lot'' to be able to get there.

* RobinHobb's later fantasy [[RealmOfTheElderlings trilogies]] ''The Liveship Traders'' and ''The Tawny Man'' go through an incredibly dark journey and emerge to a more or less happy ending.

* ''The Fifth Sacred Thing'' by Starhawk, is about an egalitarian, multi-racial, decentralist, eco-feminist community in near-future California, fighting off an invasion from a fascist, white supremacist, male supremacist regime. The author is unflinching and disturbingly graphic in her depiction of the fascists' brutal repression (a scene late in the book depicts one of the foot soldiers snapping and slaughtering nearly an entire family, the last victim being an eight-year-old), and her protagonists go through immense physical, emotional, and psychological trauma over the course of the story. But they see it through, drive off the fascists, and the book closes with the promise of healing for both the main characters and their community. The message of the book is that humanity's better nature can win out against its worst in the end, but the price of struggle is ''very'' high.

* ''The Fifth Sacred Thing'' by Starhawk, is about an egalitarian, multi-racial, decentralist, eco-feminist community in near-future California, fighting off an invasion from a fascist, white supremacist, male supremacist regime. The author is unflinching and disturbingly graphic in her depiction of the fascists' brutal repression (a scene late in the book depicts one of the foot soldiers snapping and slaughtering nearly an entire family, the last victim being an eight-year-old), and her protagonists go through ''immense'' physical, emotional, and psychological trauma over the course of the story. But they see it through, drive off the fascists, and the book closes with the promise of healing for both the main characters and their community. The message of the book is that humanity's better nature can win out against its worst in the end, but the price of struggle is ''very'' high.

* ''ParadiseLost'' may seem like a DownerEnding at first, but read it again:

* Creator/MelinaMarchetta's spectacular ''OnTheJellicoeRoad'' (just ''Jellicoe Road'' in the US and UK) is an example of Earn Your ''BittersweetEnding''. Just about everybody who survives to the end has lost at least one loved one (often more), and the ending is ''still'' incredibly sad and unbelievably heartwarming.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': This is presumably the rationale behind ''NewJediOrder'' and ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'', but for some fans the excess of doom and gloom (not to mention main character deaths) just make it (and, by extent, the franchise as a whole) a DownerEnding.

* In ''{{Animorphs}}'', after years of unimaginable pressure and WarIsHell torment, the kids become the greatest heroes in the history of humanity. However, only Marco, Cassie and Ax get to profit from it - Jake's clinically depressed due to his actions aboard the Pool ship, and Tobias struggles to live a solitary existence in the woods.

* ''WorldWarZ'' chronicles the entirety of a ZombieApocalypse, from the dark portents of danger, the manic reaction of humanity, the soulless survival techniques that many resorted to, and the horrors of the living dead. Despite this, it manages to have an undercurrent of hope that gets stronger, running side by side with the cynicism and blackness. After all, [[spoiler:Humanity did win the war, in the end.]]