History Main / EarnYourHappyEnding

::: In other words, no matter how hard you work you can't earn your way to Heaven. This sounds pretty bad at first, until you realize that Paul's meaning in this is that because {{Jesus}} [[HeroicSacrifice died]] for our sins, all we have to do is accept him as our savior to make it to Heaven, which is a lot easier than [[FailureistheOnlyOption trying to earn brownie points with God]].
* Played straight for Jesus. After all He went through to save us, the Book of Revelations identifies Him as the future ruler of the Ressurected faithful. However, being God, his dominion over us should have been His birthright rather than something earned, and many people will end up in Hell anyway.

* Appears in Islam, too. [[TheQuran Al-Baqra 214]] says, "Do you expect to enter Paradise without being tested like those before you?"

* EarnYourHappyEnding/WesternAnimation

* The tale of [[Myth/GreekMythology Cupid and Psyche]]. [[ForbiddenFruit Her own temptation isolated her from the one she loved.]] [[ToHellAndBack She went through hell for him]]--quite literally--and had to stand up to [[EvilMatriarch her mother-in-law]], all while pregnant with his child, but in the end Cupid forgives her and rescues her, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming and marries her]]. [[BabiesEverAfter And their daughter's name?]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Delight.]]

* This is the basic premise of the AmericanDream. You start out poor, you work hard, and you finally earn yourself a better life for yourself and your family.

* Many believe this to be what the human condition is all about.

* Many people believe this to be what the human condition is all about.

* This is the basic premise of the AmericanDream. You start out poor, you work hard, and you finally earn yourself a better life for yourself and your family.

* Played straight for Jesus. After all He went through to save us, the Book of Revelations identifies Him as the future ruler of the Ressurected faithful. This is somewhat subverted in that, being God, his dominion over us should have been His birthright rather than something earned, and many people will end up in Hell anyway.

-->--'''Creator/AlexandreDumas''', ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo''

* The tale of [[GreekMythology Cupid and Psyche]]. [[ForbiddenFruit Her own temptation isolated her from the one she loved.]] [[ToHellAndBack She went through hell for him]]--quite literally--and had to stand up to [[EvilMatriarch her mother-in-law]], all while pregnant with his child, but in the end Cupid forgives her and rescues her, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming and marries her]]. [[BabiesEverAfter And their daughter's name?]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Delight.]]

Not to be confused with the GoldenEnding in video games, where players actually have to [[VideoGameRewards earn]] their happy ending. It is possible for both tropes to be in play at the same time, however.

::: In other words, no matter how hard you work you can't earn your way to Heaven. This sounds pretty bad at first, until you realize that Paul's meaning in this is that because Jesus [[HeroicSacrifice died]] for our sins, all we have to do is accept him as our savior to make it to Heaven, which is a lot easier than [[FailureistheOnlyOption trying to earn brownie points with God]].

* After twenty years of rivalling ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'''s Charlie Brown as newspaper's biggest ButtMonkey, ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'''s Opus finds paradise [[spoiler:falling into the pages of his copy of ''Literature/GoodnightMoon.'']] Even [[{{Jerkass}} Steve Dallas]] is touched.

:::: In other words, no matter how hard you work you can't earn your way to Heaven. This sounds pretty bad at first, until you realize that Paul's meaning in this is that because Jesus [[HeroicSacrifice died]] for our sins, all we have to do is accept him as our savior to make it to Heaven, which is a lot easier than [[FailureistheOnlyOption trying to earn brownie points with God]].

:::: In other words: no matter how hard you work, you can't earn your way to Heaven. This sounds pretty bad at first, until you realize that Paul's meaning in this is that because Jesus [[HeroicSacrifice died]] for our sins, all we have to do is accept him as our savior to make it to Heaven, which is a lot easier than [[FailureistheOnlyOption trying to earn brownie points with God]].

* Odysseus ''embodies'' this trope so much you could rename it ''Literature/TheOdyssey''. After surviving the blood Trojan War, Poseidon develops a grudge on him, he suffers numerous misfortunes, near-death experiences, and a trip to the Underworld, eventually loses all of his friends and crew and is left to drift on the sea for months, is made a sex-slave for a few years, has been gone for two decades by the time he finally comes home, and finds that his wife is being forced to pick a suitor, so he and his son have to slaughter them all. ''And'' his dog died the minute he caught sight of him.
* The tale of [[GreekMythology Cupid and Psyche]]. [[ForbiddenFruit Her own temptation isolated her from the one she loved.]] [[ToHellAndBack She went through hell for him]] - quite literally - and had to stand up to [[EvilMatriarch her mother-in-law]] - all while pregnant with his child - but in the end Cupid forgives her and rescues her, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming and marries her]]. [[BabiesEverAfter And their daughter's name?]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Delight.]]
** Technically she fails - she falls into an eternal sleep. It's Cupid who, coming out of his depression, gives her her happy ending, by pleading to Zeus.

* Hercules seemed to have had this misfortune. Before he is even born Hera conspires to make his life as hellish as possible by denying him the kingship Zeus intended for him. Throughout life he is attacked by snakes as a baby, forced to undergo twelve years of harsh labors after killing his family in a Hera-induced rage, additional torments thrown on by Hera during those years, everywhere he goes he has to fight monsters or gods, is often cheated by kings after he fulfils his obligations to them leading him to seek retribution later, save Olympus from a race of giants, and is betrayed by his second wife who inadvertently poisons him with hydra blood leaving him in agonizing pain and has to be burned alive. His crime that started all of this? Being born the son of Zeus. All that waited for him in the underworld? Wandering around wheat fields in the dark for all eternity. The least Zeus could do was elevate him to godhood.
* Aeneas as well. His city, Troy, is burned by the Odysseus and the Greeks, he sails around on the Mediterranean Sea for six years, meeting every threat that Odysseus did, lands in Carthage where he marries the princess Dido (who commits suicide when he leaves) and upon arriving in Latium, enters into wars that kill off most of his friends.

--->''And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace."
**** In other words: no matter how hard you work, you can't earn your way to Heaven. This sounds pretty bad at first, until you realize that Paul's meaning in this is that because Jesus [[HeroicSacrifice died]] for our sins, all we have to do is accept him as our savior to make it to Heaven, which is a lot easier than [[FailureistheOnlyOption trying to earn brownie points with God]].

** The last part of which really depends on the teachings of one's denomination, Lutherans believing that all have been saved by Christ's sacrifice regardless of any sins whereas the Catholics teach that one must accept salvation and some have to go through Purgatory before their eternal reward.

* After twenty years of rivalling ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' Charlie Brown as the newspaper's biggest ButtMonkey, ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'''s Opus finds paradise [[spoiler: falling into the pages of his copy of ''GoodnightMoon.'']] Even [[JerkAss Steve Dallas]] is touched.

The basic idea of this trope is that a cast of characters in a story go through a lot more hardship, anguish and grief than is really necessary. In the end, however, you see them get their happily-ever-after. While humans may act [[HumansAreBastards bad]] and the world may seem like it's a {{crapsack|World}}, that doesn't mean that the worst villain is beyond [[HeelFaceTurn redemption]], or that things can't be improved with hard work or even ThePowerOfLove.

* Some religions have this as their premise - life is hard. BeingGoodSucks. But it ''is'' worth it, in the end - the evil are punished, the faithful are saved, and we go on to our reward, forever and ever.

->''"And though the story may have dark turns, it is so the ending might become all the brighter by comparison."''
-->-- '''The Clockmaker''', ''"The Clockmaker's Daughter"'', ''ComicBook/{{Flight}}''

* After twenty years of rivalling [[{{Peanuts}} Charlie Brown]] as the newspaper's biggest ButtMonkey, [[BloomCounty Opus]] finds paradise [[spoiler: falling into the pages of his copy of ''GoodnightMoon.'']] Even [[JerkAss Steve Dallas]] is touched.

* This is the basic premise of the American dream. You start out poor, you work hard, and you finally earn yourself a better life for yourself and your family.

*** Also, non-Christians take issue with this ending, for obvious reasons.

* Odysseus ''embodies'' this trope so much you could rename it ''Literature/TheOdyssey''. After surviving the blood Trojan War, Poseidon develops a grudge on him, he suffers numerous misfortunes, near-death experiences, and a trip to the Underworld, eventually loses all of his friends and crew and is left to drift on the sea for months, is made a sex-slave for a few years, has been gone for two decades by the time he finally comes home, and finds that his wife is being forced to pick a suitor, so he and his son have to slaughter them all.
** [[AndYourLittleDogToo And his dog died the minute he caught sight of him.]]

**** To be clear, it is a bit more complicated than that. A person's good deeds do not directly merit their salvation, but refusing to do good deeds when given the chance is a mortal sin that can lead to damnation.
* Well, it is played straight for Jesus. After all the hell (literal and symbolic) He went through to save us, the Book of Revelations seems to position Him as the future ruler of the Ressurected faithful. This is somewhat subverted in that, being God, his dominion over us should have been His birthright rather than something earned, and many people will end up in Hell anyway.

[[folder:Myth And Legend]]

** The last part of which really depends on the teachings of one's denomination, Lutherans believing that all have been saved by Christ's sacrifice regardless of any sins whereas the Catholics teach that one has to go through Purgatory before their eternal reward.