History Recap / AmphibiaS3E31TheHardestThing

* BittersweetEnding: The Core has been stopped, both worlds are safe, and Amphibia is ready to build a better society. However, the Calamity Gems are gone, their last bits of energy used to send Anne, Sasha, and Marcy back to Earth after tearful goodbyes. The worlds are seemingly split for good. Nine months later on Amphibia, the environment has been restored and Wartword has rebuilt. They honor Anne with a statue before Sprig joins Ivy in exploring a new continent. Ten years later on Earth, Anne, Sasha, and Marcy have moved on with their lives: Marcy is now publishing a webcomic, Sasha is a child psychologist, and Anne is working as a herpetologist at the Aquarium of the Pacific. The trio reunite for Anne's birthday and take a new "[=BFFs=]" photo.

* FinalBattle: The war may be over, but the Core decides to come back for one last hurrah with the heroes. One way or another, the Core's time is up.

* GodJob: Evidently, the cosmic guardian that powered the Calamity Box is a transferable position, and the current one wants Anne to replace it. It even mentions "Bagel Fridays" as if it's an ''actual'' office job. Anne turns the position down because she thinks she's unworthy, but the Guardian returns her to her life assuming she'll be up to it after a full natural life.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The Ethereal Guardian claims to be a simple spectator, but quickly states that they aren't part of "the demographic".

** When the Core sees Anne about to use the full powers of the stones against it, she replies to its comment that she's using "Amphibia's greatest treasures" against it that the stones ''aren't'' the world's greatest treasure, with an image of the friends she's made along her journeys showing what she thinks the greatest treasure truly is.

* ColonyDrop: As per the ending of the prior episode, the moon is now plummeting towards Amphibia for an unknown reason, despite Andrias and the Core's invasion having been thwarted, just as Leif foresaw 1,000 years ago. Andrias reveals that the moon is dropping ''because'' the invasion was thwarted, as it's [[ThatsNoMoon actually a machine]] designed by the Core and being induced to collide with the planet by the Core-controlled helmet on the moon itself. This means that Leif's prophetic vision was actually a SelfFulfillingProphecy, since stealing the Calamity Box and sending it to Earth kick-started the chain of events that lead to the invasion being thwarted and the Core's [[RageQuit last spiteful stand]].

* EvilIsPetty: With the invasion stopped and the Core being reduced to inhabiting Darcy's helmet after its defeat, it flies up to Amphibia's red moon, revealed to be a large creation similar to the Core's original body, and induces it to smash into Amphibia and destroy it, denying the heroes a total victory out of sheer spite towards them.

'''Andrias:''' (''gripping the crown in his hand'') Something I should have done a long time ago… ''standing up to YOU!'' (''destroys the crown'')

** The Core, now inhabiting Darcy's helmet after having lost their human host, committing an act of ''massive'' destruction for petty reasoning, smashing Amphibia's red moon into the planet to deny the heroes victory, makes the situation analogous to ''Videogame/MajorasMask'', aided by the fact that the moon is revealed to be a massive machine covered in the Core's HellishPupils, just like the Moon of Termina has a humanoid face on it.

* EarthShatteringKaboom: In order to both get revenge and reclaim the Calamity Gems, the Core initiated its final plan of doing this to Amphibia by ramming it with the moon. Fortunately, thanks to Anne using the full power of the gems, the moon is what goes kaboom (along with the Core).

* FormerlyFit: Loggle utimately loses his muscular body after slacking off on his workout regimen.

-->'''Marcy:''' So long, Andrias.\\

* BaitAndSwitch: When the Core contacts Andrias once more, he activates the Frobots... to help Anne and company destroy it for good.

* OnlyEvilCanDie: Ultimately, the only deaths to occur were of those that were on the villainous side—the Core and all the minds in it courtesy of Anne. Nearly all the other major villains (Sasha, Grime, and even Andrias) by this point have redeemed themselves one way or another and are allowed to live.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: When Anne dies destroying the Core, she meets the entity that created the stones as a test to see what mortals would do with unlimited power, acting as a multiversal guardian. It wishes to invoke this by having Anne replace it so it can retire, but when she turns it down due to being a kid who will probably screw things up, it decides to wait until she lives out her full lifespan.

* CloningBlues: The Guardian effectively brings Anne BackFromTheDead by saving her consciousness just before she disintegrated. Anne acts as if she simply survives, though she acknowledges an existential crisis may be pending.

* CallingTheOldManOut: When Andrias' abusive father speaks to him from the Core, Andrias finally stands to up him, rejects his offers, and crushes his crown to cut off any communications with him.

* HeroicRROD: Since Sasha and Marcy are less used to the Calamity powers than Anne is, they quickly run out of steam while she's still going. Then, when Anne summons the full power of all three stones, after she defeats the Core, her body utterly disintegrates.

--> '''Aldrich:''' YouFool You could have been immortal! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!\\

* DoubleMeaningTitle: The Hardest Thing is obviously referring to how hard it is to move on from the past, though it's also a pun on how something incredibly ''hard'' (the moon) is crashing down.

** The Entity of the stones takes the form of an old computer and later Domino, stating [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm its true form]] would [[BrownNoteBeing destroy Anne's mind]]. When Anne [[TemptingFate claims she can handle it]], a brief glimpse of the Guardian as some kind of pulsating EnergyBeing utterly terrifies her.

* HumansAreFlawed: Or Amphibians Are Flawed. The Entity notes that Anne was the only one who used the Calamity Gems for good in the 10,000 years they were in the hands of mortals. Anne herself turns down the offer to be GuardianOfTheMultiverse because she herself has made a lot of mistakes over the years.

* TheMagicGoesAway: The Calamity Stones are destroyed when Anne asks them for their full power in order to save the world that she loves. While the entity that created them provides the girls limited versions to allow them to return home, they're single-use only, the Box disintegrating after they leave.

* RefusalOfTheCall: Anne rejects the offer of the cosmic guardian behind the stones, saying that she's just a kid who would screw it up. The Entity decides to let her live her life completely before asking her again.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: The Entity of the stones allegedly created them to see how mortals could handle a source of unlimited power. And apparently, Anne was the first person in thousands of years to pass that test by asking the stones for the power to save Amphibia even if it costs her own life.

Anne wakes up on a mysterious floating island in some purgatory or alternate dimension that's the same as one of the posters from her bedroom. Inside a small house, she spots an old computer, where a message pops up greeting her. The computer responds as the cosmic guardian that's been watching over countless worlds for eons. To communicate better, the guardian takes the form of the cat Domino and talks to Anne verbally, who wants to offer their title as guardian to Anne, seeing that Anne is the only mortal that has used the stones' power for good in all 10,000 years of their existence. Anne refuses this deal, seeing as she is still young and has a whole life ahead of her to make changes and overcome obstacles, just like her friends did. Convinced by this, the guardian allows her to return to the world of the living, saying it can wait until she fully lives 78 more years before retiring and handing the mantle to Anne.\\

Anne wakes up back in Amphibia, where she sees her friends still mourning her earlier "death". Coming upon the group, Sprig and the others are surprised and ecstatic to see Anne alive again and all run in to hug her. Sprig then notices Anne's pocket glowing, revealed to be shards of the Calamity Gems. With everyone celebrating, Andrias looks at the remains of the moon, happy that the conflict with the Core is finally over.\\

->''Change can be difficult, but it's how we grow. It can be [[TitleDrop the hardest thing]] to realize you can't hold on to something forever, sometimes you have to let it go. But of all the things you let go, you'd be surprised what makes its way back to you.''

** Apothecary Gary can be seen sitting next to a potted mushroom in the background, indicating that there was another of his kind being held by Andrias and Gary rescued them offscreen.

*** Bog and his fellow tax collectors have started a hybrid moving/junk removal service.

--> '''Aldrich:''' YouFool You could've been immortal! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!\\

** When Andrias turns against the Core and helps the girls, the Core berates him through the crown, telling him that he could have been immortal, and asks him what he's doing. He replies that he's doing something he should have done long ago by standing up to his father, destroying his crown.

** The guardian who created the stones has been doing their job for at ''least'' ten thousand years, and is getting pretty tired of it, and it wants to at the very least retire (which very well may not entail death), and when Anne rejects its offer to replace it the being decides to return her to life, saying that it can wait 78 years more for Anne to continue to grow as a person until she's ready for the role.

[[caption-width-right:350: [[Series/DoctorWho Everything ends. And it's always sad. But everything begins again, too, and it's always happy.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:It's time for the journey to end.]]