History Main / EarnYourHappyEnding

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* 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. Too bad it was [[HappyEndingOverride overrided]] by ''Bloom County 2015'' revealing it was AllJustADream.
* The three leads of ''ComicStrip/{{Retail}}'', based on what little was revealed in the final strips, get happier fates in the wake of Grumbel's closure:
** Cooper gets a job at a shipping company thanks to his connection to Darryl, no longer has to deal with customers, and it makes twice as much as his job at Grumbel's ever did...
** ... which allows his wife Val to finally quit working and devote herself to her writing career full time.
** Marla takes a job as an office manager, and lives her dream of quitting on the spot to Stuart's face, with her parting shot revealing that almost everyone else quit too, leaving Stuart with hardly anyone for the store's closure.
[[/folder]]

*** 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 UsefulNotes/{{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]].

* EarnYourHappyEnding/WebComics

There may be some overlap with BittersweetEnding or SurprisinglyHappyEnding. Compare EarnYourBadEnding, the polar opposite, and HappilyEverAfter, a SuperTrope to this.

* Hercules seems to have this misfortune. Before he is even born Hera conspires to make his life as hellish as possible by denying him the kingship Zeus intends for him. He is attacked by snakes as a baby. He is forced to undergo twelve years of harsh labors after killing his family in a Hera-induced rage, and has additional torments thrown on by Hera during those years. Everywhere he goes he has to fight monsters or gods. He is often cheated by kings after he fulfils his obligations to them, leading him to seek retribution later. He saves Olympus from a race of giants. Finally, he is betrayed by his second wife, who inadvertently poisons him with hydra blood, leaving him in agonizing pain and having 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.

* Played straight for Jesus. After all He went through to save us, the Book of Revelation 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.

* Actors can end up with a version of this if they take a role they come to hate (due to working with someone they can't stand, having to wear a really uncomfortable costume or do something else really unpleasant every day for months.) Considering they usually get paid millions once their work is done, most of the probably consider it worth it.

* 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.

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. This trope is a specific example of LaserGuidedKarma.

* The tale of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology 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, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments and marries her]]. [[BabiesEverAfter And their daughter's name?]] [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Delight.]]

* 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.

* Take almost any pinball table that requires you to complete several "missions" to unlock a final, very difficult WizardMode - you'll probably have to go through this trope to win it all. This is especially so when you only have three balls to work with, losing a ball would also force you to start a mission over, and it can be pretty darn easy to accidentally drop the ball into those freakin' ''outlanes'' if you don't know how to tilt the ball back into the field from there. Some missions [[ThatOneLevel might be really tough]] just because you can't easily pull off a tricky shot or hit a particular target.

[[folder: Folklore and Fairy Tales]]

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9 The Jakarta Incident]], AKA the flight of British Airways Flight 9. Imagine, if you will, being the pilot of a 747 when, about an hour into the flight, ghostly lights begin flickering on your windshield that look like the hyperspace effect from ''Franchise/StarWars''. Before you realize what's happening, smoke fills the cabin and the engines on your aircraft begin flaming violently, before cutting out, one... by... one. Now you're piloting a giant glider over the open ocean, in the dead of night, without power, instruments, a barely functioning radio, and a rapidly depressurizing cabin. The only thing you can do is try again and again to restart the engines- to no success, time and time again. As you turn around to make an emergency landing, you realize that, oh yeah, there's a bunch of mountains between you and the runway. All hope is lost, right? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpuxqBp-CXw Well... Let's just say the crew's medals of honor were well-deserved.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/earnyourhappyending_6.png]]

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* Many believe this to be what life is all about.

There may be some overlap with BittersweetEnding. Compare EarnYourBadEnding, the polar opposite, and HappilyEverAfter, a SuperTrope to this.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9 The Jakarta Incident]], AKA the flight of British Airways Flight 9. Imagine, if you will, being the pilot of a 747 when, about an hour into the flight, ghostly lights begin flickering on your windshield that look like the hyperspace effect from [[StarWars Star Wars]]. Before you realize what's happening, smoke fills the cabin and the engines on your aircraft begin flaming violently, before cutting out, one... by... one. Now you're piloting a giant glider over the open ocean, in the dead of night, without power, instruments, a barely functioning radio, and a rapidly depressurizing cabin. The only thing you can do is try again and again to restart the engines- to no success, time and time again. As you turn around to make an emergency landing, you realize that, oh yeah, there's a bunch of mountains between you and the runway. All hope is lost, right? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpuxqBp-CXw Well... Let's just say the crew's medals of honor were well-deserved.]]

* A rare double example in ''Literature/TheGoldMountain'' where the nameless hero must first win a princess and a kingdom by enduring multiploe beatings and death without once trying to flee, beg or defend himself, then after losing his family and kingdom, must quest to get them ''back.''

Compare EarnYourBadEnding, the polar opposite, and HappilyEverAfter, a SuperTrope to this.

Compare EarnYourBadEnding, the polar opposite.

::: 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 UsefulNotes/{{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]].

* ”Literature/TheIronTeeth” web serial’s forests are haunted by many different types of dangerous monsters. They are incredibly dangerous and a lot of people perish within them.