History Main / ForHappiness

* WickedLovely: The Summer Court's basic mentality. Keenan's Summer Girls in particular serve as a strong 'choose happiness' thing.
** "Sometimes, it's not about being happy, but courting happiness."

Compare ''and'' contrast TotalitarianUtilitarian and HappinessIsMandatory, as well as GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul.

* In the DungeonsAndDragons setting Scarred Lands, the titan Gulaben held the powers of granting happiness. Unfortunately, as a fickle titan, she might kill you even as she induces pleasure beyond imagination. Because of the temptation her powers brought, the gods were forced to gather up and destroy any memory of her to prevent her from being released.

* In the DungeonsAndDragons setting Scarred Lands, the titan Gulaben was believed to be this. The belief lasted until the gods, unable to convince the population otherwise, [[MindRape mindraped]] the [[MoralEventHorizon entire creation]] to make all mortals forget she even existed. Of course, Gulaben was actually [[WrittenByTheWinners evil]], but utlimately it's left for the gamemaster to decide.

See also SafeSaneAndConsensual and EthicalSlut. Contrast HappinessIsMandatory. Compare ''and'' contrast TotalitarianUtilitarian as well as GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul.

* Elmer from {{Baccano!}} has this as his raison d'etre: he just wants everyone (particularly his more melancholy immortal bretheren) to smile.

Contrast HappinessIsMandatory. Compare and contrast GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul.

While Bob might be any average guy, his desire to make happiness possible - and especially the fight against needless suffering that comes with it - might drive him to become a hero. Being a ChaoticGood kind of character, he might clash with a LawfulGood hero who disregards ForHappiness in favor of having ForGreatJustice as his only driving principle. A hero who embrace BOTH ForHappiness and ForGreatJustice, keeping a balance between them when they clash, is NeutralGood.

* [[{{Paranoia}} The Computer will make you happy.]] Unhappiness is treason. Treason is punishable by immediate execution. Are you happy, citizen?

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* In ''TheOrderOfTheStick'', Elan and his mother both always try their best to live up to this trope.

* The people who give out "Free Hugs" on the street.

Lets for example say that [[ForTheEvulz Alice is having a great time hurting Steve]]. Bob disapproves: It's a good thing that she's doing something she enjoys, but it's not cool that she's doing it at his expense. Bob has no desire to punish her for her misdeeds, but might do so if that's the most efficient way to make her stop and to help Steve get his self-esteem back.

Lets for example say that [[ForTheEvulz Alice is having a great time hurting Steve]]. Bob disapproves: It's a good thing that she's doing something she enjoy, but it's not cool that she's doing it at his expense. Bob has no desire to punish her for her misdeeds, but might do so if that's the most efficient way to make her stop and to help Steve get his self-esteem back.

Lets for example say that [[ForTheEvulz Alice is having a great time hurting Steve]]. Bob disapproves: It's a good thing that she's doing something she enjoy, but it's not cool that she's doing it at his expense. Bob have no desire to punish her for her misdeeds, but might do so if that's the most efficient way to make her stop and to help Steve get his self-esteem back.

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While most heroes limit themselves to [[StatusQuoIsGod thwarting whatever schemes the villains are up to]], some actively try to spread joy and happiness to as many as possible.

Lets say that Alice is trying to get a law overthrown, simply because she think that the law (or some effect of the law) is making people unhappy. Or lets say that Bob is trying to cheer Alice up, and one of the reasons he do this is that he want people to be happy. If he spends extra energy on her because she is a person that he admires, it doesn't disqualify him from this trope. However, if he care about the happiness of ''only'' a little circle of specially selected people, then it's [[ForExample something]] [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy else]].

In different ways, this is the [[MirrorSelf polar opposite]] of ForGreatJustice and ForTheEvulz. One could say that ForHappiness expresses a ChaoticGood mindset, while ForGreatJustice is LawfulGood and ForTheEvulz is ChaoticEvil.

When comparing ForHappiness and ForGreatJustice, both strive for the greater good. However, the former trope is [[TheUtilitarian morality based on consequences]], while the later is [[TheDeontologist morality based on principles]].

When comparing ForHappiness and ForTheEvulz, both are about the character trying to spread happiness. However, the character going for ForHappiness is trying to bring as much happiness to as many as possible, and if it has to be on other people's expense at all then the damage should be as minimal as possible. While on the other hand a character going ForTheEvulz is trying to achieve happiness for himself and some likeminded people at other people's expense.

In other words, it's "''maximize the happiness for everyone and minimize the suffering for everyone''" versus "''maximize the happiness for me, and never mind the suffering as long as it only happens to other people''". In yet other words, it's EthicalHedonism versus [[TheHedonist Narcissistic Hedonism]].

Trying one's best For Happiness is a required trait of any character who is an ethical hedonist without being a StrawHypocrite or HollywoodAtheist. However, a character doesn't have to be philosophically inclined to be For Happiness. The desire to make the world a better place through spreading or enabling happiness can come from anything from simple Empathy to the religious worship of a deity that fits the concept.

An ethical hedonist character that strives For Happiness doesn't try to force people to be "[[LotusEaterMachine happy]]" or otherwise violate them for the greater good. That's the realm of the TotalitarianUtilitarian.

However, the ethical hedonist is likely to be ChaoticGood rather than LawfulGood, and when she goes up against the BigBad it's more likely to be to protect the people from getting hurt rather than punishing him for his crimes. Likewise, she is likely to let her fallen comrades [[LetThemDieHappy Die Happy]] rather than [[WillNotTellALie letting her honesty go too far]]. Of course, even the purest ethical hedonist generally consider lies and deceit to be a bad thing. But that's not because it's bad on principle but rather because it have a tendency to have [[SnowballLie unforseen bad consequences]].

* The King of Bhutan measures the prosperity and success of his nation (and, hence, his rule) in terms of Gross Domestic Happiness.

*In {{Animorphs}}, the Pemalites fit this trope to a T. Created by [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien The Ellimist]] to spread life, love and freedom, they did exactly that... until [[EldritchAbomination Crayak's]] pet creation, the Howlers, straight-up [[CurbStompBattle slaughtered their asses.]]

* In KamenRiderW one half of W Shotaro Hidari makes it his mission to make sure no one in Fuuto cries. And if a villain does makes people cry Shotaro can go to extremes to stop them.

Lets say that Alice is trying to get a law overthrown, simply because she think that the law (or some effect of the law) is making people unhappy. Or lets say that Bob is trying to cheer Alice up, and one of the reasons he do this is that he want people to be haappy. If he spends extra energy on her because she is a person that he admires, it doesn't disqualify him from this trope. However, if he care about the happiness of ''only'' a little circle of specially selected people, then it's [[ForExample something]] [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy else]].

When comparing ForHappiness and ForTheEvulz, both are about the character tryingg to spread happiness. However, the character going for ForHappiness is trying to bring as much happiness to as many as possible, and if it has to be on other people's expense at all then the damage should be as minimal as possible. While on the other hand a character going ForTheEvulz is trying to achieve happiness for himself and some likeminded people at other people's expense.