History Main / MultipleEndings

* The DVD of ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'' features an alternative ending where [[spoiler:Peter comes back and Wendy is grown up, but she has a daughter named Jane, who flies off with Peter]], which itself was the book's original ending.

* The ''Standard End'', which usually involves the least effort by the player. This is usually very short or unfulfilling, such as [[AWinnerIsYou a blank staff roll]], if the game is trying to push HundredPercentCompletion on you. Alternatively, it ends the story on a decently happy note, but leaves some ''massive'' plot threads hanging with minimal resolution.

* ''WebAnimation/TearFactor'': It has three endings which are shown if either Daffy Duck, Sylvester and Yosemite Sam winning, which makes them cry.

*** Before Night 5, do the following: complete all of Reaper Toy Chica's challenges without dying, find all Fredbear plushes, and pick "1" in all of the Atari-styled minigames. This will open the elevator in the Night 4 cutscene, which leads to Circus Baby's Pizza World. Inspect Circus Baby. After Night 5 ends, an interactive cutscene will play. Rapid click your mouse. [[spoiler: The Good Ending plays. Two short cutscenes play that show Karen successfully escaping Circus Baby's confinement and William entering a Spring Bonnie suit. Another interactive cutscene then plays, where you guide Kevin to escape from the hospital. While you can get jumpscared, this will only take you back to the bedroom, so take as much time as you need. Once you reach the lobby, Kevin meets his mother and sister's spirits, who welcome him to join them]].

* ''Literature/LifesLottery'' has ''tons'' of possible endings to your character's life, many of them extremely depressing or at the very least extremely bittersweet. Among other things, you can die an untimely death, you can find yourself in a dead-end career, you can become a criminal and end up going to jail, you can achieve success through supernatural power, you can romantically pursue numerous characters, and you can even find yourself completely rewriting your history through MentalTimeTravel... but for some reason, all nonlethal endings feature the line '''And so on.''' [[spoiler: This because your character doesn't actually end the story there at all, but continues exploring possibilities in your dreams of the multiverse.]]

* The WebOriginalFiction ''Literature/TheStoryOfMyNewHouse'' has two endings, a "good" one and a bad one. In the bad ending [[spoiler:the father of the main character is possessed by a demonic force and he murders his son and wife]]. In the good ending, [[spoiler: he is able to [[HeroicWillPower resist]] his DemonicPossession and saves his son and wife, before dying. The story concludes with the main character expressing how much he misses his father.]]

* In ''WebAnimation/SomethingAbout VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' has two endings depending on if you decide to save the animals before Zebes blows up or not:

** If you decide to save them, [[spoiler:Samus escapes the the four animals, only to find out [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion they're actually X Parasites]] and their rampage crashes them on Titania, where Samus is saved by Slippy, who was abandoned there in ''Something About VideoGame/StarFox64''. The two end up escaping the planet and Slippy is reunited with Team Star Fox, much to Falco's despair.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[MultipleEndings/TheStanleyParable And there's at least sixteen more where these came from.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:And there's at least sixteen more where these came from.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:And there's nineteen more where these came from.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:And there's sixteen more where these came from.]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/TheGodAndDevilShow'': Every episode can end with the guest going to either Heaven or Hell.
[[/folder]]

* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Only the Good" had an unfinished alternate ending where Rimmer successfully returns with the formula memorized (after several tries, too, and the group's still there) and they save the ''Dwarf''. The evac ships are left to fend for themselves. And Rimmer still ends up shot with a can by the vending machine. All in all it matches up to "Back to Earth" better than the ending that was used, as it explains why they're alone on the ship again and why Rimmer is a hologram.

* ''Manga/{{Fuuka}} Special Edition'' volume contains alternative endings for other heroines, much like ''Manga/KimiNoIruMachi'' bonus chapters.
* ''Manga/KimiNoIruMachi'': Alternative chapters [[TheirFirstTime 200]] were published with anime volumes. They also serve as alternative endings with other heroines.

* There are six ways for the universe to end: The Big Crunch, where gravity ultimately stops the universe's expansion, causing it to collapse back on itself and implode; the Big Bounce, where a new universe is created from a Big Crunch; the Big Rip, where dark energy literally tears the entire universe apart, the Big Chill, also known as the Heat Death[[note]]as of present, evidence suggests this to be the most likely. However, we know so little about dark energy that this may change[[/note]], where dark energy accelerates the expansion of the universe until everything fades away, the Big Halt, where gravity slows down the universe's expansion but cannot stop it and things would end as in the Big Chill, and finally the Big Slurp where the Universe transitions to a more stable state ceasing to exist as we know it. Or, if you're religious, the universe ends, and your religion's post-death experience happens to many individuals at once[[note]]Though it's more ambiguous for religions centered around rebirth[[/note]], and in some cases, a god creates a new universe.

* The DVD of ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'' features an alternative ending where [[spoiler:Peter comes back and Wendy is grown up, but she has a daughter named Jane, who flies off with Peter]]. This would later inspire a live-action spinoff sequel staring Robin Williams as an older Peter Pan in ''{{Film/Hook}}''.

* The ''Joke End'', perhaps the rarest of all: some games contain joke endings which are usually the most difficult to obtain, generally requiring the player to use some MacGuffin or play in a totally nonstandard way.

The major problem with Multiple Endings is that the sequel, should the developers decide to make one, obviously has to [[CuttingOffTheBranches pick only one ending from which to continue the story]] — [[NoCanonForTheWicked probably one of the good ones]]. This invariably occurs in adaptations to other media, such as novels, comics, and television. Video games have the technical means to solve said problem with an OldSaveBonus, wherein the previous game's conclusion becomes the player's personal canon in the sequel. The other problem is that thanks to Website/YouTube uploads, being able to view multiple endings no longer requires you to replay an entire game (perhaps in response to this, many games now have in-game rewards for getting different endings). Sometimes multiple endings require the player to do different actions or align themselves to different sides in order to see each ending, even if it means going against the main character's nature and goals to achieve it. This can make the story and characters look disjointed and confuse the player when they see the main character suddenly switching sides because of a few actions they did in a previous scene. When done poorly, having multiple endings can cause the player to have more questions than feel like the story is really resolved.

* ''Website/{{Starfall}}'' Had a few stories where the ending is different:

[[AC:("Good Ending" redirects here. If you were looking for the manga series commonly known by that name, you'll find it under ''Manga/GEGoodEnding''.)]]

* ''Chase'' has two endings: In the first the protagonist chooses SuicideByCop, but it turns out to be [[AllJustADream just his imagination]]. In the proper ending, he escapes [[spoiler:with the help of his hostage]].

* The Korean movie ''Resurrection of the Little Matchstick Girl'' features two endings. One "bad" where the game ends and the main character returns to his normal life and one "good" where he manages to save the eponymous matchstick girl.

** The Alternate Ending, which depicts what would happen if Megas had been able to counterattack Suika instead of dodging her final strike, [[spoiler: ends with the Mansion's library in ruins and Patchouli stuck in Jersey City until it can be rebuilt]].

** Ending D is a "[[BittersweetEnding good]]" ending; [[spoiler: Tails survives his battle with Dark Tails and successfully destroys the Dark Planet Egg, saving the universe. However, Dark Tails still lives.]]