History Main / SweetAndSourGrapes

** At the end of ''Anime/DragonballZ'', Vegeta caps off his CharacterDevelopment by admitting that Goku is more powerful than him. During ''Anime/DragonballZBattleOfGods'', which takes place after that admittance, he briefly surpasses Goku by [[ThePowerOfLove beating the crap out of Beerus after Beerus smacks Bulma]].
** ''Anime/DragonballSuper'': The end of the Universal Survival Saga. Once the tournament is over [[spoiler: 17 gets to make a wish on the Super Dragon Balls. He came to the tournament intending to wish for a cruise ship so he could take his family on vacation. However, he is inspired by the heroics of his teammates and instead wishes for the revival of all the losing universes. The Grand Priest reveals that the whole tournament was essentially a test to see if the winner would be willing to show compassion to those of other universes. If a selfish wish had been made, Zeno would have erased everything. By making a selfless wish, 17 proved that the multiverse deserves to exist. Bulma goes on to reward 17 by buying him the cruise ship he wanted.]]

* ''[[Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast Beauty & the Beast]]'' is perhaps the most well-known example of this ending. Its message is supposed to be that TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside with the Beauty learning how to look past the Beast's monstrous exterior to see and appreciate his true heart, but that conclusion turns out to be precisely what's needed for the Beast to revert to...a handsome prince! Now she can love the inside ''and'' the outside! Some versions, like the [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Disney film]], mitigate this by implying that the restoration of the Beast's human form was more ''his'' reward than hers as he needed to change himself from "ugly inside" to "beautiful inside" before the Beauty could begin to love him[[note]]not to mention that the movie never describes the prince as attractive and Belle was initially planned to be dissatisfied with his human appearance[[/note]], but other versions don't and even describe the prince as the most handsome man Beauty has ever seen or even the most handsome one ''in the world'' which raises UnfortunateImplications of how he couldn't just become human but ''had'' to become a beautiful-beyond-belief human to be a proper husband/reward for Beauty.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda:''

* ''Literature/JenniferMurdleysToad'', a children's lit novel by Creator/BruceCoville about an insecure and ugly little girl who adopts a talking frog sought out by a shallow, beauty-obsessed temptress, consciously [[AvertedTrope averts the trope]]. In early versions of the story, Jennifer became beautiful, but Coville realized that such a transformation broke the Aesop and instead went with an ending in which Jennifer just accepts herself for who she is.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'': Towards the beginning, Marty admires a pickup truck, wondering what it'd be like if he had it. When he comes back from 1955, he discovers he has that truck (or another truck like it).

* In a way, Franchise/{{Batman}} is actually this. Batman can never get back his parents and his war on crime serves not only as an outlet for his rage but also to try and ensure that no one suffers like he did, even if he has to do it alone. Ironically, through this and despite his status as a loner, he would end up with one of the largest families in the DCU, starting with his sons [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick]], [[ComicBook/RedHood Jason]] (who despite it all, does sometimes make it back), [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim]] and Damian. Then we have his surrogate daughters in Barbara (who is Commissioner Gordan's daughter), Cassandra (whom he actually adopted) and even Stephanie. Then you have his various friends and confidants in other heroes and the Justice League (special mention to Superman and Wonder Woman). And of course, surrogate father figure Alfred and surrogate mother figure, Dr. Leslie Thompkins. So, Batman's decision to love in spite of his crusade rewards him with the family he lost.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12026017/1/Witch-Weekly Witch Weekly]]'' Serenity spends significant effort trying to catch Harry cheating on Ginny (or vice-versa) so she can write an article which will springboard her career. When she finally realizes that both Potters are disappointingly squeaky-clean, she gives up and writes an article about how much in love they still are. Ginny, touched by the tone and the research involved, invites her to collaborate on a book about the Voldemort years.

* Then there's the story of the man who accompanies a dog to heaven, only to be told that he can only enter the gates if he leaves the dog behind. He refuses to abandon his companion and turns his back on heaven... and then is informed that it was a SecretTestOfCharacter and his compassion has earned him and the dog entry to paradise.[[note]]''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' used this plot for the episode "The Hunt". Though in ''The Twilight Zone'', it was secretly Hell, trying to trick people, and [[EvilDetectingDog dogs can tell the difference]], which is why it refused to go. [[SpaceWhaleAesop So get a dog, or you'll go to Hell!]][[/note]]

* ''Myth/JapaneseMythology'': After Okuninushi married Suseri-hime, he tried to win over her father, the infamously ill-tempered storm god Susano'o. Susano'o gave his new son-in-law several [[EngagementChallenge challenges]] that were also thinly-veiled attempts on his life, so Okuninushi got fed up and simply eloped with Suseri-hime (absconding with Susano'o's weapons for good measure). By that point, Susano'o was starting to respect Okuninushi, and stealing his stuff proved that Okuninushi was just as much of a troublemaker as he was. Even though he left his palace in a rage, by the time Susano'o caught up with the couple, he gave them his blessing to not only marry, but use his weapons to kill Okuninushi's murderous brothers.

* ''It Makes No Matter To Me'', the final poem in ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'', has a variant of this: dude explains that "I am no king, and I am no lord... I am but a very poor harper", but his girlfriend repeats several times that she doesn't mind how poor he is because she loves him. He then admits that [[SubvertedTrope he isn't even a harper]], and made ''all'' of it up. She just shrugs and says that in that case, she'll teach him to play the harp and ''[[EarnYourHappyEnding make]]'' [[EarnYourHappyEnding it all true]].

* In ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', the eponymous Hamilton's decisive and bold strokes to establish America's economy are constantly blocked by the Democratic-Republicans, led by Jefferson and Madison. In "The Room Where It Happens", he gives up on those and begins trying Burr's approach of waiting, listening, and compromising, and is surprised to learn that his bold strokes go over just fine when he's willing to give something up in return.

* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'': A minor example is a portal that only opens to an entrant who '''has no desire''' to enter it.

* The Evil Academy Freshman Class Elections of ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'' are a brutal series of battles in which several students compete to become the class president. Prior to the competition, the School Board has the [[ProfessionalKiller PTA]] abduct [[{{Delinquents}} Raspberyl]] for brainwashing, with Kyoko and Asuka trying - and failing - to convince [[VillainProtagonist Mao]] to break off the competition to save her. It's only when [[HeroicWannabe Almaz]] convinces Mao that taking down the School Board would show how much more powerful he is than the rest of the candidates that Mao goes through with saving Beryl. But wouldn't you know it - after word gets out, the rest of the school nominates Mao as Freshman Class President. [[DidntSeeThatComing Sadly, Geoffrey's not all that pleased with the outcome.]]

* Invoked by the player in the ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' expansion ''Shadows of Undrentide''. You end up inside a story where a blind beggar tells you that the woman he loves was sent to an evil monastery to keep her away from him. Although you're too late to save her the first time, you can later rewrite the story, so that the beggar is really a knight pretending to be blind and destitute just to make sure that she loves him for the right reasons. He also saves her life, having better timing than the protagonist.

* In ''Digimon Rearise'', one game of the ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' franchise, Herrismon, the main character's partner, did not evolve even as all the other partner Digimon managed to evolve. This distressed him greatly, but eventually, he finally realized that getting stronger by evolving as quickly as possible was not the important thing and that always being there to help his allies was more important, so he wasn't really bothered anymore by not having his evolution. As a result of finally realizing this, LaserGuidedKarma gave him his evolution.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'', Hilda tries to steal Hyrule's Triforce to replace Lorule's Triforce, which was destroyed, leaving Lorule doomed. She's eventually convinced what she's doing is wrong, and she allows Link and Zelda to return to Hyrule with the Triforce. Link and Zelda immediately use it to restore Lorule's Triforce.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In "Lisa's First Word", Homer tries to get Maggie to talk, but his attempts fail miserably. After he decides that he would be better off if Maggie didn't talk (mainly so she doesn't backtalk to him) and leaves Maggie alone in her room, she says her first word: "Daddy."
** In "King Of The Hill", when Homer realizes his father let him down by lying about his own attempt at climbing Mount Murderhorn, Homer thinks he's let Bart down himself, so he decides to give up on climbing the mountain. Taking the flag out, he takes the Powersauce banner off and replaces it with the "Simpson" flag from the church picnic earlier in the episode, saying "It's not the top, but it's as close as a Simpson's gonna get.", and hammers it in. However, this causes a landslide bringing down the top of the mountain, thereby making where he's standing the top.
** In "The Homer They Fall", Homer gets into boxing with Moe as his manager. Moe, being a former boxer, is contacted by his old manager, Lucius Sweet, a Don King {{expy}}, who offers him $100,000 if he agrees to have Homer fight professional boxer Drederick Tatum, a Mike Tyson expy, in a 10-round match. Moe agrees, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome however, Tatum's punches are too strong for an amateur boxer like Homer to handle]], so Moe swoops in and saves Homer from being KO'd, upsetting everybody there. Though he still gets paid the $100,000 afterwards.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': In the back story Hank and Peggy [[InverseLawOfFertility weren't able to have a child]] due to Hank's [[RunningGag narrow urethra]] and unwillingness to use in vitro fertilization. In the end, they settle for getting a puppy, Hank's beloved Ladybird... and soon after conceive Bobby. Hank later comments that he thinks the happiness they got from Ladybird helped "loosen him up" enough to finally succeed even though they weren't even trying anymore.
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Recess}}'':
** An episode has the Ashleys entering Spinelli into a BeautyContest. In order to turn their prank back on them, she decides to get a makeover and actually try and win the contest. When it comes to the finals, she realises that she's not being true to herself and ignores the judges-pleasing speech she had prepared - forfeiting the contest. But then the judges declare her the winner because [[BeYourself she was true to herself]].
** Gretchen decides to earn money to buy a new bike by tutoring the other kids. It essentially turns into her doing their homework for them in exchange for money - in a vain hope that they'll actually study it afterwards. They end up in detention when actually challenged with a test that Gretchen can't help them on. Gretchen decides not to buy the bike and gives each kid back their money - as well as legitimately tutoring them this time. Their grades go up, and Gretchen discovers that they all pitched in to buy her the bike as thanks.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic", the Jellyspotters decide they've had enough of Kevin bossing [=SpongeBob=] to the point they rip off his CrownShapedHead and give it to him, recognizing [=SpongeBob=] as their new leader and thus granting him membership to the club which is what he wanted since the beginning. But [=SpongeBob=] turns down the membership afterward, because it isn't about Kevin, it's about jellyfish.
* ''WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake: The Berryfest Princess Movie'' The traditional dessert for the Berryfest feast is a wanderberry, a plant that grows in a different location each time the berry is picked. The first one that the girls picked gets eaten by bunnies on the night before the feast, so Strawberry goes to find a new one. She finds one at the very last minute, but on the way back home, she runs into a sick bird and decides to feed it the entire berry, despite her friends' reminder that they need it for the feast. The bird recovers, and when Strawberry comes home, she finds that the new wanderberry has grown right outside her own house, just in time for the feast.

* A heartwarming example happens in ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}.'' He enters a contest that lured him in with a sweet grand prize, but every round requires an increasingly large amount of money to continue, to the point where he almost spends his college savings bond on it. While this is going on, he's also involved in an unrelated art contest where he's making a sculpture of his dog Porkchop, but he's primarily focused on the first contest even though it's obviously a scam. Eventually, he gives up and is bummed out about it, but then he receives a letter in the mail saying his sculpture came in third place in the art contest, which confuses him since he had forgotten all about it. His sister Judy reveals that ''she'' submitted the sculpture for him and reminds him not to lose sight of his talents.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MickeyAndMinnieWishUponAChristmas'', Mickey and his friends spend ages agonising over getting the perfect gift for each other, only to lose them all while trying to avoid getting seperated. Once reunited, they realise the gifts weren't important, as long as they're together. Then, Santa gives them all the gifts.

* In the anime version of ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'', Kirie, the first to pilot after the realization that [[spoiler:the loser's universe is destroyed]], enters his battle unwilling to fight because that revelation, combined with some of his personal issues regarding his family, makes him wonder whether the world deserves to continue existing [[spoiler:at the cost of another's existence]]. At that moment, his opponent commits suicide, and surprisingly enough, [[spoiler:he lives through the fight because he didn't move Zearth. He regains his resolve in time to pilot again, defeat his enemy, and die like everyone else]].
* This comes up fairly early on in ''{{Manga/Saki}}''. In Saki's first few matches with Nodoka, she ends up with the same score she started with, which, despite indicating Saki getting in second or third place out of four, shows that Saki has almost superhuman skill and luck at mahjong- Saki adopted this tactic because her parents would punish her if she won or lost family mahjong games, causing her to dislike the game itself. Nodoka, who has played in mahjong tournaments, and is trying to get her father to allow her to stay in her current school by winning the national tournament, is infuriated with Saki's attitude toward winning and being effectively defeated by her in spite of that. However, Nodoka starts to warm up to Saki after Saki drops that playstyle, and reveals that she hopes to see her estranged older sister again in the national tournament and reconcile with her, so the trope stops being in play after a few chapters.
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** At the end of ''Anime/DragonballZ'', Vegeta caps off his CharacterDevelopment by admitting that Goku is more powerful than him. During ''Anime/DragonballZBattleOfGods'', which takes place after that admittance, he briefly surpasses Goku by [[ThePowerOfLove beating the crap out of Beerus after Beerus smacks Bulma]].
** ''Anime/DragonballSuper'': The end of the Universal Survival Saga. Once the tournament is over [[spoiler: 17 gets to make a wish on the Super Dragon Balls. He came to the tournament intending to wish for a cruise ship so he could take his family on vacation. However, he is inspired by the heroics of his teammates and instead wishes for the revival of all the losing universes. The Grand Priest reveals that the whole tournament was essentially a test to see if the winner would be willing to show compassion to those of other universes. If a selfish wish had been made, Zeno would have erased everything. By making a selfless wish, 17 proved that the multiverse deserves to exist. Bulma goes on to reward 17 by buying him the cruise ship he wanted.]]
* At the end of ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'', [[spoiler: Okabe has saved the world and the woman he loves, but due to TimeTravel being involved, nobody but him will [[WistfulAmnesia (consciously)]] remember [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold all the hardships and struggles he faced]] to EarnYourHappyEnding. Thus, he figures that Kurisu has probably gone back to America and forgotten all about him. However, as he's accepting this since this means that she's alive and happy "doing her own thing", he runs into Kurisu in a chance encounter, Kurisu having stayed in Japan for the past month trying to find Okabe. Furthermore, she returns his feelings after the conversation they have makes her realize everything he's been through and remember every timeline herself.]]

* Shingetsu in ''Anime/{{GRANBELM}}'' is CursedWithAwesome to begin with, and it gets worse when it turns out she has to choose between [[spoiler:sticking with her intention to rid the world of magic entirely because of the harm that Magiaconatus and mage society have caused, and keeping [[OnlyFriend Mangetsu]] alive when their relationship had been the one bright spot in Shingetsu's life that wasn't pulled away]]. She almost gives up on the former, but at Mangetsu's insistence, goes for it instead knowing that she'll lose the latter. [[spoiler:Until Mangetsu reappears to add her power to Shingetsu's in the GrandFinale and reassures her that she's doing the right thing before vanishing again... and then both she and Shingetsu are mysteriously restored to reality anyway in the last seconds of the show.]]

* In a way, Franchise/{{Batman}} is actually this. Batman can never get back his parents and his war on crime serves not only as an outlet for his rage but also to try and ensure that no one suffers like he did, even if he has to do it alone. Ironically, through this and despite his status as a loner, he would end up with one of the largest families in the DCU, starting with his sons [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick]], [[ComicBook/RedHood Jason]] (who despite it all, does sometimes make it back), [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim]] and Damian. Then we have his surrogate daughters in Barbara (who is Commissioner Gordan's daughter), Cassandra (whom he actually adopted) and even Stephanie. Then you have his various friends and confidants in other heroes and the Justice League (special mention to Superman and Wonder Woman). And of course, surrogate father figure Alfred and surrogate mother figure, Dr. Leslie Thompkins. So, Batman's decision to love in spite of his crusade rewards him with the family he lost.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loathly_lady Loathly Lady]]is closely related to ''Beauty and the Beast''.

* Creator/HansChristianAndersen's "Literature/TheUglyDuckling" is ''all'' about this - as a duckling, the hero is ugly. As a swan, he is beautiful. All he has to do is ''stop trying to be a duckling.''

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'': In this PeggySue fic, Asuka and Shinji are initially on the verge of just letting the world die because coming back in time meant losing their daughter. They manage to overcome their sorrow and work hard to avert [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Third Impact]] even knowing they'll never be able to see Aki again... and then in the second-to-last last chapter, we get an episode where Rei finds an inexplicably familiar young child wandering lost in Tokyo-3.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5403644/1/Naruto-Asunder Naruto Asunder]]'': Naruto's eventual decision to not become Hokage boils down to this. He points out to Tsunade that at this point in his life, he's already gotten what he wanted and fully admits he'll never be pragmatic enough to sacrifice those close to him. And it doesn't bother him one bit.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Juxtapose}}'', Izuku and Hitoshi enter the Sports Festival thinking that only one of them is going to enter the Hero Course, wishing each other the best of luck but promising to not hold back either. [[spoiler:In the finale, they knock each other out in a fistfight and All Might announces that they'll ''both'' be entering the Hero Course.]]

* In ''Fanfic/BeingDeadAintEasy'', Kaiba explains to Joey that [=KaibaCorp=] isn't just a job for him, it's a part of his identity. So when Yami Bakura offers him a deal, saving Joey in exchange for Kaiba's company, Joey is shocked that Kaiba agrees. In the epilogue, Yami Bakura [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome discovers that not]] only does he not know how to ''run'' a company, taking control of a corporation right after the CEO is hospitalized from multiple assassination attempts looks incredibly suspicious (although [[NotMeThisTime that wasn't his fault]]). Yami Bakura returns the company, so Kaiba keeps both Joey and his company.
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', before she Awakens in ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops'' Rhea, the Archibishop of Fodlan, [[spoiler:has spent roughly a thousand years trying to resurrect her mother Sothis, the Progenitor Goddess]], keeping Fodlan under her leadership during that time so that [[spoiler:Sothis could lead the nation more easily when she returned]]. After [[spoiler:she's imprisoned for]] more than five years during the war and does a lot of soul-searching, she finally gives up on these goals, admitting that her efforts to keep the continent under her control during that time led to [[spoiler:Edelgard starting the war to free the continent from the abuses of the Crest system Rhea promoted,]] and learning that [[spoiler:Sothis wasn't willing to completely possess Byleth, her host, in order to resurrect herself]]. After the war, Rhea begins a relationship with Byleth, only to Awaken in [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft Azeroth just before the Bombing of Theramore]]. After returning to Fodlan, her first Loop there has her learning that [[spoiler:Sothis is one of the two Anchors for Fodlan, and is capable of taking a physical form again without needing to possess Byleth]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': Dr. Facilier offers to give Tiana the restaurant she's always dreamed of, as well as restore her to human form, in exchange for his voodoo talisman. She almost gives in but realizes that [[ThePowerOfLove those she loves]] are even more important than her dreams, so she smashes the talisman. Charlotte's kiss (as an honorary princess but only until midnight) fails to turn them human, she and Naveen decide to marry anyway, doomed to a life as penniless frogs, but together. However, since she has just married a prince, Tiana becomes a princess, and their kiss breaks the spell. Then, with a little "aggressive persuasion" from Louis, Tiana is able to buy her restaurant, and she and Naveen deck out the place in splendid fashion.

--> '''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Wait a second, everybody. There's something I need to say first... I just don't know how to put it.\\
'''Squidward:''' I think I know what it is. [[ItsTheJourneyThatCounts After going on your life-changing journey,]] [[WantingIsBetterThanHaving you now realize you don't want what you thought you wanted.]] [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong What you really wanted was inside you all along.]]\\
'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' *grabs manager badge from Squidward* Are you crazy!? I was just gonna tell you that your fly is down!
* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' subverts the ''Beauty & the Beast'' example. Fiona becoming an Ogre and taking up Shrek's "bad" habits when they hook up is widely considered a direct answer to the ending of ''Beauty & the Beast''.

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'', Satan finally overcomes his abusive relationship with UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein and sends the cruel dictator back to Hell, killing him for good. He thanks Kenny, who, after [[TheyKilledKennyAgain dying earlier]] and being sent to the Underworld himself, did his best to convince Satan that he was worthy of real love. As a reward, the Dark Lord offers Kenny any wish he wants, and the boy chooses to hit a cosmic ResetButton by putting everything back to the way it was before the war between the United States and Canada began. Chef points out that this will send Kenny back to Hell, but he says it's [[HeroicSacrifice worth it to save his friends and family]]. After [[DramaticUnmask finally revealing his face]] and speaking clearly for the first time--"Goodbye, you guys"--Kenny fades away, and Satan, as promised, releases a WorldHealingWave that rejuvenates the land and restores the dead to life. As everyone celebrates, Kyle, Stan, and Cartman look up and notice Kenny flying through the sky, where a personal Heaven of [[CovertPervert nude women with enormous breasts]] awaits him--by willingly going back to Hell, he proved himself truly unselfish and thus worthy of nirvana.

* The remake of ''Film/Bedazzled2000'' has Elliot get out of his [[DealWithTheDevil contract with The Devil]] by making a selfless wish that the woman he'd spent the whole movie pining for would have a happy life. When he's released and finally gets the courage to ask the woman out, Elliot discovers that his wish ended up fixing her broken relationship so that she's no longer single, which he gracefully accepts and moves on. Then he returns home to find a new neighbor moving into the house next to his, a young woman with a striking resemblance to his former crush who has a bubbly, talkative personality much like his own and shares a lot of his interests. They hit it off immediately.
* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' has near the end a FriendOrIdolDecision where Charlie had to choose between selling the Everlasting Gobstopper to Wonka's rival to get his family out of poverty, and keeping his promise to the Candy Tycoon along with his penniless status. It's easy to guess how it ends: Charlie gives the Gobstopper back to Wonka, and learns that Wonka's rival Slugworth was really Mr. Wilkinson, one of Wonka's executives, [[SecretTestOfCharacter testing Charlie and the other Golden Ticket winners]]. Because of this, Charlie won and would inherit Wonka's factory.

* ''Film/TheMuppetsWizardOfOz'': Dorothy asks the wizard to make her a famous singer, not to help her get home. She then decides that she really does want to go home, and Glinda sends her back to Kansas, where she says she's happy working at her uncle and aunt's diner. Then the Muppets show up and say they've heard her demo tape and want her to appear on the show. At first, she refuses, but Aunt Em encourages her to go and pursue her dream.
* ''Film/TheMuppets2011'': The Muppets' attempt to [[SavingTheOrphanage save their theater and their name]] from the evil oil tycoon, Tex Richman, fails horribly as it turns out they didn't even come close to raising enough money. Kermit instead declares that it doesn't matter that they failed since they did their best and they'll move forward as a family regardless. They exit the theater to people applauding them for their efforts. Cue the end credits, when Gonzo accidentally beans Tex Richman in the head with a bowling ball. Thanks to the head injury finally giving him the ability to laugh, Richman gives them the theater and the name anyway.
* ''Film/NationalTreasure'': Ben Gates decides that the treasure is too big for one man and donates to world museums (never mind that it was the only way to escape a double fistful of federal felonies). But it's OK. The Government allowed the heroes to keep enough money to make them fabulously wealthy anyway.
* ''Film/ThoroughlyModernMillie'' does the classic love vs. money version of this: the woman has to choose between the rich jerk and the nice but humble guy, and goes with the latter. It turns out that the nice guy is rich anyway. This is foreshadowed in a scene where Muzzy tells Millie about how she met her own incredibly rich husband. According to Muzzy, she had no idea he was fabulously wealthy until he gave her jewelry with what she first thought were green glass beads, but discovered to really be emeralds. She figured he stole the jewelry to impress her and begged him to return it because she didn't care if he gave her expensive gifts, she just wanted him to be honest; this in turn convinced her husband-to-be that Muzzy genuinely loved him and not his money, since she valued truth and doing the right thing over material goods, and thus won his heart. She concluded the story by telling Millie (who made no secret of her GoldDigger plans) that while emeralds are nice, folks can get by just fine on green glass.
* ''Film/HowToMarryAMillionaire'': Although the main character Schatze's choice isn't between a rich ''jerk'' and a humble ''sweetheart'' (they're both very sweet fellows) but between a millionaire decades older than Schatze, for whom she can only bring herself to feel platonic affection, and an (secretly far ''richer'') everyman who is the same age as her and has completely swept her off her feet. She, too, chooses the latter. It's subverted with the love interests of the other two ladies, who they end up loving despite being completely penniless.
* ''Film/WhatAGirlWants'' Daphne finally realizes that her presence in England is causing both her and her father more harm than good, and returns home to America. What does Dad do? Drop everything in his life, ''including a Parliament seat he's been chasing for years'', and run to America to be with her and her mother.
* Subverted at the end of ''Film/{{Click}}''. As Michael is making amends with his family, he finds the remote in his house, with a letter from [[Creator/ChristopherWalken Morty]], saying "I know you'll do the right thing this time". Michael, however, throws the remote into the trash, and after making sure it's gone for good ([[ClingyMacGuffin earlier, he was unable to get rid of the remote regardless of what he did]]), he goes off to play with his kids. Of course, that may have been what Morty meant.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'': Towards the beginning, Marty admires a pickup truck, wondering what it'd be like if he had it. When he comes back from 1955, he discovers he has that truck (or another truck like it).
* ''Film/LaLaLand'' - Mia is frustrated with constant rejection from all her auditions so she decides to put on her own one-woman play. Hardly anyone turns up, and this convinces Mia to give up on acting altogether. [[spoiler: It turns out a casting director saw the play and asks Mia to audition for a film. It's implied the film ended up becoming Mia's big break]].
* ''Film/WereTheWorldMine'': The protagonist Timothy gets a hold of a magic flower whith a juice that can make everyone fall in love with the first person they see. He uses to make his crush Jonathon fall in love with him. Uses of the flower in other people begin creating chaos in his town, to the point he has to give up the flower even if that means renouncing to Jonathon. [[spoiler: Turns out Jonathon had been gay and in love with him all along.]]

* In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' novel ''Faces of Deception'' by Troy Denning, the protagonist, Atreus, has been staggeringly ugly since childhood as a result of a spell GoneHorriblyWrong. All he wants is to become handsome so that he can have a normal life. Others point out to him that he should first learn to appreciate inner beauty, but since people tend to run screaming at the sight of him he's fairly cynical about that idea. Finally, he finds a "perfect" land where people don't see even him as ugly and where he finally finds love - but he can't stay there permanently. [[spoiler: The very fact that it would be such an obvious thing for this trope to happen by the end makes it a subversion when it doesn't. Atreus throws everything away and tries to steal a source of the sacred valley's power to heal his appearance, and the [[ShaggyDogStory story ends]] with his neither having stopped wanting better looks nor having achieved them.]]
* Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales'' features the Wife of Bath's Tale, a variation on the "Loathy Lady" story mentioned in Fairy Tales folder above. In the story, a wandering knight rapes a young maiden and is sentenced to death. He begs the queen of the country for a chance at redemption, and she offers him a challenge: he has one year to find the answer to the question "What does a woman want?" If he gives a satisfactory answer, he'll live, and if he fails to come up with a solution, the death sentence will be carried out. The knight travels around the world, asking various wise people for answers, but none are correct. When his time is almost up, an ugly, elderly woman offers to teach him the secret if he agrees to do her a favor. The knight agrees, and the crone explains that what women really want is the freedom to make their own choices. The knight gives this answer to the queen, who declares it correct; the old woman then reappears and reveals that [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe the favor in question is the knight's hand in marriage]]. Though repulsed by her, he keeps his word, and to his shock, his ugly bride becomes a beautiful young woman on their wedding night! But while this might appear to be a SecretTestOfCharacter, the ''real'' challenge is yet to come. The bride offers her new husband a choice, explaining that she can either be ugly and eternally faithful to him, or beautiful but eternally unfaithful. The knight, realizing that he'll be miserable either way, remembers the crone's words and tells his wife to make the choice for herself. This pleases his bride, as it proves that he has grown in wisdom, and she reveals that because he let her choose, she will be both beautiful ''and'' faithful.

* ''Literature/JenniferMurdleysToad'', a children's lit novel by Creator/BruceCoville about an insecure and ugly little girl who adopts a talking frog sought out by a shallow, beauty-obsessed temptress, consciously [[AvertedTrope averts the trope]]. In early versions of the story, Jennifer became beautiful, but Coville realized that such a transformation broke the Aesop and instead went with an ending in which Jennifer just accepts herself for who she is.
* In ''Literature/AdventuresOfDunno'' (''Neznayka''), a Russian children's story, the eponymous character learns that if you commit three selfless good deeds in a row, a wizard will appear and offer you a magic wand. He accomplishes a number of good deeds but to no effect because by thinking about the wand while performing the actions, he renders the otherwise-selfless actions selfish. Only after he has become disenchanted with the whole idea and completely forgotten about the magic wand does he complete the task and summon the wizard.
* In ''Summer Of The Monkeys'', the young protagonist finally wins the money he spent the whole book trying to obtain because he wanted to buy a horse. However, his ill sister needs an operation, so he does the right thing -- and ends up getting the horse, too. The movie version (a ''very'' loose adaptation) seems to have deliberately avoided the trope, wanting to create more of a BittersweetEnding.
* In ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' the Count, after getting his revenge and expecting to just walk away, lonely and alone, gets Hadee who loves him dearly.
* Many of the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' books have the heroes go on a life-changing journey across Xanth in order to accomplish some goal or obtain something they think they need, but when they finally get there, they don't want it any longer, because the life-changing journey changed their life and priorities. On the other hand, the same journey has enriched their life, broadened their horizons, and (extremely often) helped them to fall in love with one of their stalwart companions. Other times, the trope plays a little straighter. In the course of their journey, their original goal is set aside in light of a greater mission they must undertake. Upon completing the mission, they usually have to be reminded about their original goal...and find it has either been rewarded to them or they achieved it during their mission.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** A minor one in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire''. When Ron is about to apologize, Harry realizes he doesn't need to hear the apology. Just knowing Ron was going to make it was enough, and forgiving him before he could apologize will repair the friendship that much faster.
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Harry is urged by Aberforth to save himself and leave the task of killing Voldemort to someone else. Harry refuses to do so, despite this goal causing him to separate himself from Ginny and lose all hope of a safe, normal life, on the grounds that he'd rather sacrifice his personal desires to ensure no one else is hurt by Voldemort. Even when he learns that [[spoiler:he needs to let Voldemort kill him to ensure Voldemort's demise, completely removing any chance at all of returning to his loved ones]], he goes through with it. [[spoiler:It turns out the whole thing was a gambit set up by Dumbledore. Turns out that Voldemort damaged his soul so much that when he tried to kill Harry and gave him that scar as an infant, he made Harry into an ''7th [[SoulJar Horcrux]].'' This explains their connection, Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue and so on. Harry willing letting himself be killed instead kills off the soul fragment in him and leaving Voldemort more vulnerable (with the last horcrux being destroyed in Nagini thanks to Neville) and leaves him just as himself. Not only that, but because Harry willingly died to protect everyone helping him, he invoked the same magical protection his mom gave him, ensuring that Voldemort really ''can't'' hurt anyone else for the rest of the battle. Voldemort loses when he tries to use the Elder Wand on Harry (but due to wand rules and disarment, Harry became the master after disarming Draco who became it after disarming Dumbledore). The wand refuses to kill its master and backfires, ending Voldemort once and for all.]] And then the WhereAreTheyNow epilogue confirms that Harry ends up marrying Ginny and having the family he's always wanted.

* Throughout the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' series, Bella insists she wants to be a vampire and stay with Edward forever, even though she's warned that it'll mean she'll have to fake her death, abandon her home, friends, and family, lose her ability to have children, will spend some period of time immediately after the transformation as a murderous newborn, will break Jacob's heart, and almost certainly will spark a war between the werewolves and the vampires. Cue ''Breaking Dawn'', where she gives birth to a perfect baby girl immediately before being transformed, becomes a newborn with perfect self-control and almost no bloodlust, remains in contact with her parents, her father aware that she's not human exactly anymore, has a cottage in Forks with Edward (neither show any signs of moving out anytime soon), and neatly avoids any Jacob or werewolf-related trauma when Jacob [[spoiler:imprints on her daughter]], making everything quickly resolve itself. Go figure.
* At the start of ''Literature/TheTrialsOfApollo'', [[GreenThumb Meg]] gains the former god Apollo as a servant, and is told that if she treats him well, he'll reward her upon his return to godhood. When he does after a few months of traveling and growing together, he realizes that if he rewarded her for her good behavior, it would cheapen their friendship into a transaction (relevant to both of them, because Meg's abusive stepfather alternated soul-crushing punishments with lavish rewards, and Apollo's relationship with the Sybil of Cumae soured when he granted her immortality and demanded her services as oracle in return). Meg agrees, but shyly asks if it's too much to ask for a unicorn. Apollo gives her one, as a gift between friends rather than payment.
* In ''Literature/AGameOfThrones'', after the Starks find five orphaned direwolf pups, Jon convinces Ned to let the Stark children keep the pups by pointing out that since Ned has five children, the gods clearly intend for the Starks to keep them. Both Bran and Ned note that this bit of math only works out because Jon is deliberately excluding himself from the count of children due to being Ned's bastard, which is all the more touching as Jon's status as a bastard is something that brings him deep pain and insecurity. As they all turn for home, however, they find ''another'' wolf pup that had somehow crawled away from his littermates, and Jon immediately claims him for his own.

* On the reality TV show, ''For Love or For Money'', the women are told firsthand that if they win the heart of one man, they'll get a check for one million dollars too. What they don't know is that if the man does pick them in the end, they have to choose between him and the million dollars because they can't have both... except that, as the man is helpfully informed of in secret, if they ''do'' pick love over money, they'll get the money ''anyway!'' And then additional twists like the final check having a very good chance of being for just one dollar instead of a million and the woman who actually chose the money over the man being invited back to compete for double the money rendered whatever moral the show was trying to aim for practically moot anyway.

---> '''Fran''': See? You did the right thing, and God smiled on you.

** Or it was all DyingDream Picard was suffering before Dr. Crusher could revive him and it never really happened. [[spoiler: One of the novels written about the series has Q cryptically telling Picard that it was both a Dying Dream and something that actually happened.]]
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' the newly-crowned Myth/KingArthur finds an antagonistic king trespassing on his lands who refuses to sign a peace treaty with him. Arthur duly executes him at the urging of his EvilUncle. The dead king's widow takes exception to this and marches on Camelot with her extensive army. Arthur talks her into pitting her champion against him, wins the fight and declares peace with the Queen, who is impressed by his conduct. So Arthur gets rid of a potentially dangerous king who was out to seize his kingdom ''and'' declares peace with the dead guy's widow.
* Happens to Wilhemina in the series finale of ''Series/UglyBetty''. When her latest scheme backfires, she takes responsibility for her actions towards Tyler and protects him without asking for anything in return, revealing that she does intend to turn over a new, less evil, leaf. Daniel then [[spoiler: resigns his post as Editor-In-Chief, leaving Wilhemina as the sole head of "Mode."]]
* On a Christmas episode of ''Series/KenanAndKel'', Kenan gets a job as a [[MallSanta department store Santa]] to save up and buy himself a new mountain bike. When one boy asks for a gift for his sister and nothing for himself, Kenan is so moved that he instead uses the money to buy each sibling bikes of their own. In the end, the real Santa is shown placing the bike Kenan wanted under his tree.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': One episode has Ted and Marshall state that they have a few female (and one male) friends say that they were done with romance and try to focus on their careers, [[{{Irony}} only to find that once they stopped trying]] they ended up immediately falling in love with great guys and ended up being HappilyMarried to them. This is in response to Robin having said the exact same thing right before she met [[RomanticFalseLead Don, who she got into a serious relationship with.]] However, the man she eventually marries is someone she has already met.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** During "The Day of the Doctor" the War Doctor is set to use the Moment to destroy both the Time Lords and the Daleks in order to save the rest of the universe until he is sent to see how doing so changed the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. The War Doctor is at first worried by what he sees, only to realize that in the end they are still the Doctor and will still save lives. He returns to activate the Moment only for the Tenth and Eleventh to appear and help him TakeAThirdOption, apparently saving Gallifrey while destroying the Daleks.
** In one episode, Amy is left on an alien planet, dodging medical robots that will kill her unintentionally, until Rory and the Doctor can come and save her. Because of time travel, they find both her present-day self and her future self, who was abandoned for years and became a rather cynical badass as a result. Throughout the episode, the Doctor insists that both Amys can't be saved and Rory agonizes over which one to rescue since he loves both and both love him in return. Finally, the Doctor figures out a way to rearrange the TARDIS so that both Amys can be saved. [[spoiler:And then it's horribly, horribly subverted when it turns out the Doctor was lying so he could trick Rory and the present-day Amy to go in the TARDIS and let him lock the future Amy out. Everyone's upset about this, but it's just impossible to save both. The future Amy ends up accepting this and lets the medical robots kill her, as she remembers Rory.]]
* ''{{Series/Scrubs}}'' has an early episode where Carla and Turk are fighting because she feels like he only wants her for sex. Turk tries to prove that he knows Carla by getting her a nice pen as a present[[note]]Realising she hand writes letters because she thinks email is too impersonal.[[/note]] but gets it from what he ''thinks'' is the lost and found, only to find out that it had been extracted from a patient's hindquarters. Carla loves the gift, and they're on the brink of physically reconciling when he decides to come clean. She's initially angry, but then realizes that he'd just demonstrated that he cared more about being honest with her than about having sex. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments She realises this in about ten seconds and is heard calling for him to join her in the bedroom]].

* One episode of ''Series/FamilyMatters'' sees Carl passed up for a promotion to Police Captain in favor of [[{{Nepotism}} the commissioner's son]]. Carl is understandably upset about the loss but does his best to remain professional, especially since the new captain is a nice, if indecisive, guy. Things get tense when a major gang war is in danger of breaking out, and the captain can't decide what to do. He sincerely begs Carl for help, and though he's [[WhatYouAreInTheDark briefly tempted to let his rival fail]], he ultimately realizes that the innocent lives at stake are more important than his envy, and develops a plan which averts the fight. When the commissioner shows up and praises his son for a job well done, Carl remains quiet rather than complain, which ends up being the right choice, as the captain admits that Carl was the one who solved the problem and deserves the leadership role more than he does. It also turns out for the best for him -- he actually ''preferred'' his old job and never wanted to be captain in the first place. The commissioner, impressed by the whole situation and with a newfound respect for Carl, promotes him to captain and restores his son to his previous position, while the younger men remain friends and colleagues.
* ''Series/{{Bunkd}}'': In "Sore Lou-ser", Camp Kikiwaka is competing against rival Camp Champion in the Sportsmanship Game, which Kikiwaka always loses. When the two are tied for the final event, an egg-tossing contest, Matteo ends up forgoing the catch to save a bird's egg falling out of a tree; the tossed egg broke, and it seems Kikiwaka lost again. But when Barb tosses her egg down, it does not break, revealing she used a hard boiled one. Thus, the egg from the tree is saved, [[DisqualificationInducedVictory Champion is disqualified, and Kikiwaka wins for the first time]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' subverts the ''Beauty & the Beast'' example. Fiona becoming an Ogre and taking up Shrek's "bad" habits when they hook up is widely considered a direct answer to the ending of "Beauty and the Beast."

* In the movie ''Film/Penelope2006'', the titular character, an aristocratic young woman, is born with a [[PigMan pig's snout and ears]] due to an ancestral curse on her family. There's a [[CurseEscapeClause way to break the spell, though]]--Penelope must earn the love of "one of her own kind." Her RichBitch mother Jessica interprets this as needing to pair Penelope with an aristocrat of equal breeding, so she locks her away in the family mansion and tries to find her suitors, all of whom flee at the sight of her face. Eventually, though, Penelope gets tired of hiding and sneaks out, discovering the joys of life and learning that most people don't care about her appearance (in fact she becomes a minor celebrity when she's unmasked). Jessica still begs Penelope to find a peer to wed, but Penelope refuses and says she'd rather live as a CuteMonsterGirl forever than be in an unhappy marriage: "I like myself ''the way I am!''" This instantly lifts the curse, as Penelope has gained the love of "one of her own kind" after all--herself.

* In the movie ''Film/Penelope2006'', the teenaged girl mentioned is cursed with a pig's nose because she needs 'one of her own' to love her. After trying and failing to get a suitable suitor, she learns to accept herself as she is. This causes the curse to break. And, sometime later, she meets and starts a romantic relationship with a man she had fallen in love with (and who loved her but feared he could not break her curse).

* In ''Webcomic/GeneralProtectionFault'', [[FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling Justin Barker was a student at a military academy while his older brother Jason]] was a [[TheSlacker slacker]] college student with [[TheAlcoholic a drinking problem]]. When the UGA decided to kidnap Justin to test him as a potential agent, they accidentally got Jason instead, and even more incredibly, Jason passed with flying colors, so the UGA decided not to rectify the mistake. Justin didn't take it well, and [[TheResenter resented his brother for years]]. Fortunately, after talking with Fooker's friends, Justin reconciled with his brother, and eventually, Fooker managed to arrange for him to take his place in the UGA, since Fooker wanted to go back to his job, his friends and his girlfriend, making this a case in which both parties get what they want.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'':

* ''Joe Millionaire'', a 2000s reality show, did something similar: all the women competed to win the heart of one man, who has been showing them the time of their lives in his mansion... except it wasn't his mansion, and he was just an ordinary construction worker. Yet, when she chose to remain with him, they were compensated for appearing on the show... with a check for one million dollars. Sadly, this became more [[BrokenAesop broken]] afterward; the two broke up shortly after the show aired. But at least they still split the money!
** Another reality TV show, ''For Love or For Money'', did something similar: the women are told firsthand that if they win the heart of one man, they'll get a check for one million dollars too. What they don't know is that if the man does pick them in the end, they have to choose between him and the million dollars because they can't have both... except that, as the man is helpfully informed of in secret, if they ''do'' pick love over money, they'll get the money ''anyway!'' And then additional twists like the final check having a very good chance of being for just one dollar instead of a million and the woman who actually chose the money over the man being invited back to compete for double the money rendered whatever moral the show was trying to aim for practically moot anyway.
* ''Series/TheNanny'' S2 Ep2, "The Playwright" had this happen to Brighton. He reluctantly agrees to go with his geeky study partner, Brooke, to the school dance, only to deny it and turn her down when she talks to him about it in front of his friends and gets lectured by Fran for it. Later on, after agreeing again to take her to the dance, she shows up and has [[SheCleansUpNicely cleaned up nicely]]. Fran lampshades it:
--> '''Fran''': See? You did the right thing, and God smiled on you.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MickeyAndMinnieWishUponAChristmas'', Mickey and his friends spend ages agonising over getting the perfect gift for each other, only to lose them all while trying to avoid getting seperated. Once reuinited, they realise the gifts weren't important, as long as they're together. Then Santa restores all the gifts, and they sing a song about how the gifts don't matter ''while opening them''.

* This is a ''huge'' problem on ''Series/FullHouse'', especially in later seasons when the writers began focusing on [[CreatorsPet Michelle]]. But the seeds were there from the beginning:
** In one Season 2 episode, the main cast ends up stuck in an airport on Christmas Eve, and their airline loses the luggage containing the girls' presents. Everyone complains about this, but Jesse inspires everyone to change their minds by pointing out that Christmas is based on feelings, not material things...and then he starts comparing the items in the airport to ''material things'' (a vending machine becomes a Christmas dinner, for example). To make matters worse, the next day, [[RealAfterAll the real Santa Claus]] shows up and uses his magic to make the lost luggage appear, so the girls get their gifts anyway.
** A similar treatment became even worse later in the show: Jesse notices that Stephanie and Michelle are being especially greedy one Christmas season, so he promises them a great gift. The gift turns out to be their spending time volunteering at a local homeless shelter, so they can get an idea of how lucky they are. Unfortunately, not only do the girls still get a good pile of presents, ''we never see them volunteering'' -- they just come home and talk about what an eye-opening experience it was. That's all kinds of wrong.
** In "The Day of the Rhino," Michelle sends away for a toy advertised by Rigby the Rhino, a [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney]] {{Expy}}. When the toy turns out to be much smaller than advertised, she, her friend Denise, Joey, and Stephanie all travel to the mall during a Rigby performance and angrily protest. It seems as though they're unsuccessful, but Joey encourages Michelle to take heart: she may have been ripped off, but her good deed has kept other children from making the same mistake. Seconds later, the doorbell rings -- it's Rigby, and he's so touched by Michelle's protests that he's decided to give everyone who ordered a toy a free large doll, starting with her.

* ''Film/ThoroughlyModernMillie'' does the classic love vs. money version of this: the woman has to choose between the rich jerk and the nice but humble guy, and goes with the latter. It turns out that the nice guy is rich anyway. This is foreshadowed in a scene where Muzzy tells Millie about how she met her own incredibly rich husband. According to Muzzy, she had no idea he was fabulously rich until he gave her jewelry with what she first thought were green glass beads, but discovered to really be emeralds. She figured he stole the jewelry and begged him to return it because she didn't care if he gave her expensive gifts, she just wanted him to be honest. She concluded the story by telling Millie (who made no secret of her GoldDigger plans) that while emeralds are nice, folks can get by just fine on green glass.

* ''Comicbook/SwampThing'': The Creator/AlanMoore revision. Original SuperHeroOrigin; genius scientist Alec Holland, while researching a plant growth formula that he hopes will end world hunger, is killed by a bomb planted by a jealous fellow researcher who covets his wife. His body, soaked in the formula, falls into the bayou where “The chemicals, and forces within the bog, mutated (him) into a muck-encrusted mockery of a man!” Except, that's not what happened. Alec Holland died in the original attack. His body fell into the bayou. The plants in the bayou ate his body, soaked in the growth formula, "And they become infected by a powerful consciousness that does not realize it is no longer alive!" Swamp Thing is thus not Alec Holland, but [[TomatoInTheMirror "a plant that THOUGHT it was Alec Holland... A plant that was trying its level best to be Alec Holland... and that pathetic misshapen parody was the closest that it could get." "He isn't Alec Holland... He never will be Alec Holland... He never was Alec Holland... He's just a ghost... A ghost dressed in weeds."]] Bummer, eh? Except that where a human turned into a plant is a monster seeking to regain his humanity, a plant with the mind and memories of a human is ''an extension of all plantlife on earth.'' It can perceive all that occurs among plantlife. It can recreate itself anywhere plantlife exists. And it can command that plantlife as an extension of itself. He is nothing less than an [[GaiasVengeance intelligent avatar of the ecosystem]], a PhysicalGod! And even as such a being, it still possesses human intelligence and human emotions, so it can still find love.

* This happens in the Literature/ArtemisFowl fanfic series [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2055830/1/Artemis-Fowl-The-Aztec-Incident Artemis Fowl: The Aztec Incident]] and its sequel [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2593669/1/Artemis-Fowl-The-Sword-of-God Artemis Fowl: The Sword of God]]. In The Aztec Incident, Artemis loses his genius, becoming merely very intelligent. A big plot point of The Sword Of God is Artemis's struggles to accept the loss of his genius. After accidentally altering history so that he never met the People, meaning that he never lost his genius but did lose everyone he loves and ended up leading a miserable and empty life as a result, Artemis learns that he doesn't need to be a genius as long as he has his friends and family; he doesn't stop missing his genius but learns to accept that it's gone and isn't coming back. Then after history is restored to normal, Artemis's friends and family find a way to restore his genius anyway, letting him have it all.
* ''FanFic/TheSecondTry'': In this PeggySue fic, Asuka and Shinji are initially on the verge of just letting the world die because coming back in time meant losing their daughter. They manage to overcome their sorrow and work hard to avert [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Third Impact]] even knowing they'll never be able to see Aki again... and then in the second-to-last last chapter, we get an episode where Rei finds an inexplicably familiar young child wandering lost in Tokyo-3.
* [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5403644/1/Naruto-Asunder Naruto Asunder]]: Naruto's eventual decision to not become Hokage boils down to this. He points out to Tsunade that at this point in his life, he's already gotten what he wanted and fully admits he'll never be pragmatic enough to sacrifice those close to him. And it doesn't bother him one bit.

* ''Film/TheMuppets'': The Muppets' attempt to [[SavingTheOrphanage save their theater and their name]] from the evil oil tycoon, Tex Richman, fails horribly as it turns out they didn't even come close to raising enough money. Kermit instead declares that it doesn't matter that they failed since they did their best and they'll move forward as a family regardless. They exit the theater to people applauding them for their efforts. Cue the end credits, when Gonzo accidentally beans Tex Richman in the head with a bowling ball. Thanks to the head injury finally giving him the ability to laugh, Richman gives them the theater and the name anyway.

* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'' has an infamous example. Whenever you encounter a [[CreepyChild Little Sister]], you're given two options: "Harvest", which kills the Little Sister [[EvilPaysBetter but gives you more]] [[BioAugmentation ADAM]], or "Rescue", which cures the Little Sister of her [[BodyHorror sea slug]]-induced possession [[BeingGoodSucks but gives you less]]... ''in theory.'' [[MamaBear Dr. Tenenbaum]] will reward you for saving the Little Sisters with free [[PowersAsPrograms Plasmids]] and bonus ADAM; all things considered, resisting temptation and playing the hero is ultimately just as rewarding, if not more so, than choosing the evil route. Harvesting every Little Sister grants 280 ADAM which is more than one will get for rescuing. However when you account for the free plasmids and gene tonics you get from Tenenbaum, some of which can only be acquired in this manner, the value of Harvesting disappears entirely; from a rewards perspective, virtue is the superior option. It's especially worth it when you consider the 100G Achievement that comes with rescuing every little sister.

* Eventually in ''[[https://ficwad.com/story/213011 Eroninja]]'', Tsunade offers to make Naruto Hokage but by this point, he's had some heated debates with Gaara (who is the Kazekage) and met Minato (via time travel), so he turns down the position, citing how both chose to put their village before their family and he refuses to do the same.

* In ''Summer Of The Monkeys'', the young protagonist finally wins the money he spent the whole book trying to obtain because he wanted to buy a horse. However, his [[IllGirl sister]] needs an operation, so he does the right thing -- and ends up getting the horse, too. The movie version (a ''very'' loose adaptation) seems to have deliberately avoided the trope, wanting to create more of a BittersweetEnding.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', before she Awakens in ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops'' Rhea, the Archibishop of Fodlan, [[spoiler:has spent roughly a thousand years trying to resurrect her mother Sothis, the Progenitor Goddess]], keeping Fodlan under her leadership during that time so that [[spoiler:Sothis could lead the nation more easily when she returned]]. After she's [[spoiler:imprisoned for more than five years during the war and does a lot of soul-searching]], she finally gives up on these goals, admitting that her efforts to keep the continent under her control during that time led to [[spoiler:Edelgard starting the war to free the continent from the abuses of the Crest system Rhea promoted,]] and learning that [[spoiler:Sothis wasn't willing to completely possess Byleth, her host, in order to resurrect herself]]. After the war, Rhea begins a relationship with Byleth, only to Awaken in [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft Azeroth just before the Bombing of Theramore]]. After returning to Fodlan, her first Loop there has her learning that [[spoiler:Sothis is one of the two Anchors for Fodlan, and is capable of taking a physical form again without needing to possess Byleth]].

* Children. [[LawOfInverseFertility Couples who are desperate to conceive may fail to]] because the stress impairs the functions. Once they stop obsessing, a welcome pregnancy can come along.
* Romance. Many people have observed that it's only when you stop trying to find romance that you actually succeed. Probably because when you're trying really hard, you come off as desperate, which is not attractive. When you stop obsessing over whether or not you're in a relationship and learn to be happy with yourself as a single person, you come off as confident and self-possessed, which ''is'' attractive.
* The same can be said for friendship and being liked. Some people try ''way'' too hard to be cool or likeable, which makes them come off as a TotallyRadical poser who reeks of low confidence and either drives people away or attracts insults and bullies. These same people will find that, by just chilling out and not caring if they impress others or not, people are a lot more attracted to them as they're more fun and pleasant to be around. "BeYourself" is a lesson hammered into our heads for a reason, after all.
* Most cases of MagnumOpusDissonance -- given up trying to write that bestseller? Cue writing a bestseller!
* Lost something in the house? Good way to find it: Stop looking for it! You'll run ''right'' into it.
* Trying hard to remember something? [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presque_vu Relax]], it will pop into your mind later.

* "Choking" in athletics is a real psychological phenomenon. If you focus too hard, the conscious side of your brain will try to take over, interfering with the muscle memory that you've built up during training. Which means that relaxing and having fun instead of being obsessed with winning will often allow you to perform better, making winning more likely.
* Sometimes it's easier to find a good movie or television show on accident, rather than spend hours searching for one on streaming services or in stores.

* A minor one in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire''. When Ron is about to apologize, Harry realizes he doesn't need to hear the apology. Just knowing Ron was going to make it was enough, and forgiving him before he could apologize will repair the friendship that much faster.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Harry is urged by Aberforth to save himself and leave the task of killing Voldemort to someone else. Harry refuses to do so, despite this goal causing him to separate himself from Ginny and lose all hope of a safe, normal life, on the grounds that he'd rather sacrifice his personal desires to ensure no one else is hurt by Voldemort. Even when he learns that [[spoiler:he needs to let Voldemort kill him to ensure Voldemort's demise, completely removing any chance at all of returning to his loved ones]], he goes through with it. [[spoiler:It turns out the whole thing was a gambit set up by Dumbledore. Turns out that Voldemort damaged his soul so much that when he tried to kill Harry and gave him that scar as an infant, he made Harry into an ''7th [[SoulJar Horcrux]].'' This explains their connection, Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue and so on. Harry willing letting himself be killed instead kills off the soul fragment in him and leaving Voldemort more vulnerable (with the last horcrux being destroyed in Nagini thanks to Neville) and leaves him just as himself. Not only that, but because Harry willingly died to protect everyone helping him, he invoked the same magical protection his mom gave him, ensuring that Voldemort really ''can't'' hurt anyone else for the rest of the battle. Voldemort loses when he tries to use the Elder Wand on Harry (but due to wand rules and disarment, Harry became the master after disarming Draco who became it after disarming Dumbledore). The wand refuses to kill its master and backfires, ending Voldemort once and for all.]] And then the WhereAreTheyNow epilogue confirms that Harry ends up marrying Ginny and having the family he's always wanted.