History Main / SurprisinglyHappyEnding

Contrast to RayOfHopeEnding, which is a mainly bad ending that has some glimmers of hope on it, and SuddenDownerEnding, its direct opposite. May overlap with TearDryer.

!!Note: This is a SpoileredRotten trope, that means that EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]], only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list.

!!Examples:

* ''Literature/TheDarkForest''. It's a story about humanity horribly outmatched against an imminent AlienInvasion, establishes that the ''entire universe'' is full of [[AliensAreBastards paranoid, genocidal civilizations]], and seemingly no hope in sight. And yet it ends with humans and the invaders, the Trisolarans, ultimately calling a truce when their conflict threats to reveal both their existences to the rest of the galaxy. The Trisolarans exchange their technology with humanity, who manages to build gravitational wave transmitters, and Luo Ji, a researcher who converses with them, reunites with his wife and daughter after they awaken from hibernation. He also converses with a Trisolaran who suggests that love may be a universal concept, and maybe they can help it grow. The following book, ''Death's End'', [[spoiler:pulls a HappyEndingOverride, unfortunately]].

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfyalPCdYfM Missing Cat]]'' is a video by [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC64FzJiwkIuKj1_msLkdmBg Darkbox Horror]], who specializes in horror works. Rather than some CruelTwistEnding as usual, the video ends with the protagonist finding the [[spoiler:missing daughter]] from the posters, beating down the kidnapper, and getting his reward money as the family happily reunites.

* Season 2 of the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'' was just one long TraumaCongaLine for Tommy, to the point where, when [[GreaterScopeVillain Dream]] sent him and Tubbo an ultimatum to meet him somewhere far away to fight for the discs one last time, the most optimistic predictions still involved Tommy and Tubbo losing the fight and ending up in prison. However, a few days before the fight, Tommy quietly sent [[TheDragon Punz]] a ''massive'' bribe, leading to [[OnlyInItForTheMoney Punz]] secretly rallying about half the server to come in and [[BigDamnHeroes save Tommy and Tubbo]] from Dream. Dream was subsequently stripped of his power, locked in prison, and the season ended with Tommy and Tubbo sitting on their bench, listening to the discs, as [[BigBrotherMentor Wilbur]] [[GhostReunionEnding briefly returns as a ghost]] to tell Tommy [[SoProudOfYou just how proud he is]] of what they've pulled off. [[spoiler:However, this gets somewhat undercut by Dream and Punz later confirming that this "victory" had been staged all along, to [[AssPull much contention]] from some parts of the fandom. That being said, it's fair to say that the results of this "staged victory" were [[BreakTheHaughty much]], [[ColdBloodedTorture much]] [[SanitySlippage worse]] than Dream anticipated.]]

* The final moments of ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' are surprisingly uplifting, specially taking in consideration the bitter conclusion of the first and second season, and the more cynical tone of the third season, with the last minutes of the series showing the main character having a happy, loving family as an adult.

* ''Series/AgentsOfShield'': After multiple seasons of TraumaCongaLine for almost everyone and several [[BitterSweetEnding bittersweet season finales]], including the originally intended series finale in season 5, season 7 pulls off a shockingly happy grand finale where EveryoneLives, the villains are defeated through the power of empathy, and Fitz and Simmons [[StarCrossedLovers finally break their curse]] and get to [[EarnYourHappyEnding finally be happy together.]]

* ''Series/AgentsOfShield'': After multiple seasons of TraumaCongaLine for almost everyone and several [[BitterSweetEnding bittersweet season finales]], including the originally intended series finale of season 5, season 7 pulls off a shockingly happy grand finale where EveryoneLives, the villains are defeated through the power of empathy, and StarCrossedLovers Fitz and Simmons finally get to be unambiguously happy and settled down together.

* ''Series/AgentsOfShield'': After multiple seasons of TraumaCongaLine for almost everyone and several [[BitterSweetEnding bittersweet season finales]], including the originally intended series finale of season 5, season 7 pulls off a shockingly happy grand finale where EveryoneLives, the villains are defeated through the power of empathy, and Star-CrossedLovers Fitz and Simmons finally get to be unambiguously happy and settled down together.

* ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' seemingly ends with Okabe achieving a PyrrhicVictory, saving his closest friend after an extensive TraumaCongaLine and at the cost of the woman he fell in love with. But then the series reminds the audience of the [[OnceMoreWithClarity yet-to-be-explained weirdness of the first episode]] and that [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle John Titor existed before the shift to the Alpha world line]]...

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', Flynn actually dies after cutting Rapunzel's hair, which prevented her from using it to heal him. That is, until it turns out that Rapunzel's tears still retained some of her healing powers.

* ''Film/TaxiDriver'' shows the protagonist, Travis Bickle, slowly descending into madness over the course of the film, culminating in him trying to assassinate a politician. After his attempt fails, Travis goes to a hotel and starts a shootout to rescue a child prostitude he had met earlier ([[DeathSeeker and to get himself killed]]), killing three people while getting shot in the neck, among other places. It looks like he's going to die of his injuries, but he ends up surviving, becoming a local hero, and successfully reuniting the little girl with her parents. However, this is a downplayed example; the "happy ending" can be interpreted as Travis' DyingDream, and even if he really survived, he's still living in an enviroment that he hates, and the final shot of the film implies his mental condition hasn't improved and he could go on a murderous rampage again.

* ''Literature/TheDarkForest''. It's a story about humanity horribly outmatched against an imminent AlienInvasion, establishes that the ''entire universe'' is full of [[AliensAreBastards paranoid, genocidal civilizations]], and seemingly no hope in sight. And yet it ends with humans and the invaders, the Trisolarans, ultimately calling a truce when their conflict threats to reveal both their existences to the rest of the galaxy. The Trisolarans exchange their technology with humanity, who manages to build gravitational wave transmitters, and Luo Ji, a researcher who converses with them, reunites with his wife and daughter after they awaken from hibernation. He also converses with a Trisolaran who suggests that love may be a universal concept, and maybe they can help it grow.

* In the WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants episode “Party Pooper Pants”, [=SpongeBob=] throws a house party that he tries to assert tyrannical authority over, due to reading a guide to throwing parties that said unsupervised parties lead to disaster. He takes this literally and rips into his guests whenever they deviate from his impractical schedule and forces them to participate in his ideas of fun (which are all really lame). It’s not until he gets locked outside his house that the guests finally have a good time doing what they want, and [=SpongeBob=], watching from outside, thinks the party is going disastrously, oblivious to how much they’re enjoying themselves. He doesn’t get back into his house until the following morning, by which time he assumes the party was a disaster without his supervision. However, Patrick arrives to thank him for the party, declaring he’s the best party-planner ever. [=SpongeBob=] finally finds peace knowing everyone enjoyed the party, and is implied to realize it went great without his boring schedule, giving the episode a happy ending.

* ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'' is a CosmicHorrorStory with a happy ending. It's even more surprising because it wasn't ''supposed'' to be this way; the players kept [[OffTheRails doing the unexpected]], resulting in Ruby and Tom escaping the facility together along with fellow survivor Jay, sharing a bottle of champagne as they ride off into the sunset.

* ''All the Right Moves'', a 1983 sports drama starring Creator/TomCruise, makes it seem like the protagonist Stefan is going to be doomed to the dead-end, miserable life in Ampipe he so desperately doesn't want, due to being blacklisted from most of his college opportunities. Then his former coach, who has taken a new job at Cal Poly, realizes that he was wrong is blacklisting him and offers Stefan a football scholarship there, which he accepts. However, there is a bit of a sour lining in that Stefan will most likely have to leave his family, his girlfriend, and his friends behind, since they will all spend the rest of their lives stuck in Ampipe.

* Although not a work, the end of UsefulNotes/TheColdWar qualifies. Even as late as 1986, everyone believed the only way the ideological struggle between the [=USSR=]/Warsaw Pact and United States/[=NATO=] was going to end was with a nuclear war, as both blocs finally threw all their nuclear missiles at their opponent as WorldWarThree erupted. Nobody suspected that 1987 would see the beginnings of a renewed detente between the two nations, rapprochment between UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev and a major arms-limitation agreement. Much less did anyone forsee the HoleInFlag revolutions that swept through the Warsaw Pact nations in 1989, including the dismantling of UsefulNotes/TheBerlinWall and the peaceful reunification of East and West Germany. And the events of 1991, culminating in the Christmas Day dissolution of the Soviet Union, and Gorbachev peacefully handing over his power to UsefulNotes/BorisYeltsin of the Russian Federation, would have been a complete surprise to people in 1986.

* Season 2 of the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'' was just one long TraumaCongaLine for Tommy, to the point where, when [[GreaterScopeVillain Dream]] sent him and Tubbo an ultimatum to meet him somewhere far away to fight for the discs one last time, the most optimistic predictions still involved Tommy and Tubbo losing the fight and ending up in prison. However, a few days before the fight, Tommy quietly sent [[TheDragon Punz]] a ''massive'' bribe, leading to [[OnlyInItForTheMoney Punz]] secretly rallying about half the server to come in and [[BigDamnHeroes save Tommy and Tubbo]] from Dream. Dream was subsequently stripped of his power, locked in prison, and the season ended with Tommy and Tubbo sitting on their bench, listening to the discs, as [[BigBrotherMentor Wilbur]] [[GhostReunionEnding briefly returns as a ghost]] to tell Tommy [[SoProudOfYou just how proud he is]] of what they've pulled off. [[spoiler:However, this gets somewhat undercut by Dream and Punz later confirming that this "victory" had been staged all along, to [[AssPull much contention]] from some parts of the fandom. That being said, it's fair to say that the results of this "staged victory" were [[BreakTheHaughty much]], [[ [[ColdBloodedTorture much]] [[SanitySlippage worse]] than Dream anticipated.

* Season 2 of the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'' was just one long TraumaCongaLine for Tommy, to the point where, when Dream sent him and Tubbo an ultimatum to meet him somewhere far away to fight for the discs one last time, the most optimistic predictions still involved Tommy and Tubbo losing the fight and ending up in prison. However, a few days before the fight, Tommy quietly sent [[TheDragon Punz]] a ''massive'' bribe, leading to Punz secretly rallying about half the server to come in and [[BigDamnHeroes save Tommy and Tubbo]] from Dream. Dream was subsequently stripped of his power, locked in prison, and the season ended with Tommy and Tubbo sitting on their bench, listening to the discs, as [[BigBrotherMentor Wilbur]] [[GhostReunionEnding briefly returns as a ghost]] to tell Tommy [[SoProudOfYou just how proud he is]] of what they've pulled off. [[spoiler:However, this gets undercut by Dream and Punz later confirming that this "victory" had been staged all along, to [[AssPull much contention]] from some parts of the fandom.]]

* ''Film/{{Arctic}}'' could probably set the record for holding off on a last-minute happy ending. By the end of the movie, Overgård has exhausted himself and all his resources trying to escape the Arctic with the woman, and can only watch helplessly as a passing helicopter seems to ignore them, even when he burns his jacket in a last-ditch attempt to catch their attention. Deciding he's reached his limit, Overgård lies down, ready to die -- and the last shot of the movie is the helicopter's struts touching down a couple of feet behind the two.

* {{Opera}}'s tendency to always end in death and/or floods of tears makes Vincenzo Bellini's opera 'I Puritani' exceedingly surprising. Just when it looks like Arturo is going to be executed and Elvira plunged back into a madness from which she will never return, an official arrives and announces that Arturo is pardoned. So, he and Elvira will be getting married after all, making this one of the few non-comedic operas with a happy ending.

* In the 1928 classic ''Film/{{The Wind|1928}}'', the protagonist is raped by a ma] who she shoots the next day. Letty was already undergoing SanitySlippage before that due to [[GoMadFromTheIsolation being in near complete isolation]]. Her husband comes back home and suddenly there's a happy ending where Letty comes to terms with living in a perpetually dusty plains town and being in a MarriageOfConvenience. This was actually the result of ExecutiveMeddling. The original ending was going to have Letty go mad and walk into the dust storm. It was decided not to go with a DownerEnding.

* {{Opera}}'s tendency to always end in death and/or floods of tears makes Vincenzo Bellini's opera 'I Puritani' exceedingly surprising. Just when it looks like Arturo is going to be executed and Elvira plunged back into a madness from which she will never return, an official arrives and announces that Arturo is pardoned. So, he and Elvira will be getting married after all, making this one of the few non-comedic operas with a happy ending.

** ''Theatre/TheOresteia''. Not that it isn't a pretty [[CycleOfRevenge dark and grisly trilogy throughout]], but the last entry, "The Eumenidies" ends on a remarkably good note. Orestes is rescued from the wrath of the Furies by Apollo and Athena, who acquit him in a jury trial and let him go free, pardoned of guilt. [[JustSoStory This ''also'' paves the way]] for Athena to establish Athens' legal system, which favors innocence over guilt, thus putting an end to the cycle of revenge and transforming the Furies into [[TitleDrop the Kindly Ones]]