History BittersweetEnding / Literature

* At the end of the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' series, the Yeerk invasion is defeated, but Rachel, Tom, and several supporting characters die in the process. Jake and Tobias suffer from depression and find themselves unable to adjust to life after the war. As if that isn't enough, Ax gets captured by a new enemy and the rest of the Animorphs try to rescue him, only to result in a BolivianArmyEnding. Cassie survives, since Jake knows she's never been a warrior at heart and doesn't take her on the rescue mission. Despite Jake's suggestion of marriage in #53, they drifted apart afterwards and Cassie is dating someone else. That's both official couples torpedoed, since Rachel is dead. Tobias has Rachel's ashes, and unless he traps himself in a morph that lives longer than a red-tailed hawk, he may get to be TogetherInDeath with her soon afterward. The ''Animorphs'' universe apparently has ''some sort'' of afterlife, as Rachel's spirit got to talk to the Elemist for a few moments before continuing on its ghostly way to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence or whatever.

* {{Subverted}} in ''Literature/YumiAndTheNightmarePainter''. The story was ''supposed'' to end with Yumi performing a HeroicSacrifice, destroying the Father-machine, banishing the nightmares, and freeing the trapped souls at the cost of her own life. Except that Painter didn't realize that that was how the story was supposed to end, and he proceeded to ''paint Yumi back to life'' and settle down running a noodle shop with her.

* The sequel to ''Those That Wake'' called ''What We Become''. The Old Man has been defeated and the world is free of his influence, and seems to be on the road to recovery, but Remak and Mal are dead.

* ''Tiger Moon'' by Antonia Michaelis ends with Lalit/Lagan rescuing Safia/Raka, having been encouraged by the (true) story of Farhad and Nittish, who attempted to rescue her. In the attempt though, Farhad is killed, and Nittish is turned to stone after being exposed to tears. However, Farhad gets reincarnated as a good and prosperous man (and is implied to be reincarnated by Krishna himself), and Nittish's soul leaves the statue, entering into the body of a strong young tiger who died and whose soul had already moved on, getting to finally be a normal tiger again.

* End of Polish novel ''Wroniec'' (title doesn't have an equivalent in English, but it's something similar to raven and crow). The main character saves his familly, and his Uncle has HeelFaceTurn, but he has to sacrifice his gift and a part of his innocence and not only titular BigBad wasn't defeated but it's clearly said, that even if he would be, another one would just take his place and nothing would change. And poor Mr. Beton was eaten by ravens.

* ''Yagu, the Blue Wolf'': The titular character gets rescued by his master, but in the process most of his former pack, including his sister, gets killed.

* ''Mario and the Magician'': the evil magician who manipulated everyone is shot dead, ending his power, but Mario will probably go in jail for it. And of course, this death won't change that Italy further descends into dictatorship (and ''we'' now know that Germany will follow shortly.)

* Cormac [=McCarthy=]'s ''The Road''. The father dies, completely uncertain and afraid of his son's future in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. It's believed to have been a worthwhile sacrifice, however, as his son was finally able to find some place safe to be raised by decent people. The ending is then given even more bittersweetness as the epilogue implies that humanity will never be able to recover from the catastrophe that befell the earth, and will eventually die out completely. Still, given [=McCarthy=]'s usual EverybodyDiesEnding tactic, this is practically a parade with balloons and circus animals.

* ''The Sight'' by David Clement-Davis ends with a ''huge'' amount of the main characters dead, Larka dying, even though she tried to save herself whilst [[TakingYouWithMe killing Morgra in the process]], and Fell leaving the pack and becoming a ''kerl'' -- a lone wolf. Kar meanwhile, beigns to slowly lose the will to live before Larka comes to him a dream, and tells him to snap out of it. On a happier note though, Huttser and Palla have some more cubs, and name them after the dead members of the pack, and the final line is rather FauxSymbolism.
* The fantasy novel ''Sirena'': Sirena the mermaid [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy lets her human lover go]].
* ''Sneezy Louise'': In the end Louise is still sick with a cold, but her parents are warm and sympathetic as they tuck her into bed, despite having been impatient with the [[IllTimedSneeze mishaps she caused]] earlier. She goes to sleep certain that tomorrow will be easier.

* ''Sometimes, You Barf'' ends with the girl recovering from her flu, yet belatedly realising that she didn't study for the test that she initially was going to do before she barfed.

* In ''The Kind Farmer'' by Eleanor Farjeon, Robert dies in poverty, worn out by work and anxiety. However, he dies at peace, having done something good for practically every villager, and will be remembered as the kindest man in the neighborhood rather than the greedy tyrant he used to be until a few years previously. His beloved daughter Jane is left a penniless orphan, but the entire village decides to raise her in memory of Robert, and the ending notes Jane never lacks for love and care.

* ''The Land of Oblivion'' - Jesse is dead but [[DiedHappilyEverAfter he has a happy afterlife...]] [[InferredHolocaust for now]].

* ''Laura and the Silver Wolf'' ("Laura und der Silberwolf") : Two girls, Laura and Eileen share a room in a leukemia ward. Laura doesn't make it, but Eileen does. And if it wasn't AllJustADream, Laura lives on in Ice-Land.

* The Quirk Classics parody novel ''Android Karenina'' technically concludes with ''two'' endings, both extremely bittersweet.

%%* Arthur C. Clarke, ''Childhood's End''.
* The ending of Patricia Bray's ''Chronicles of Josan'' trilogy. Josan, whose soul has been forced into the body of the prince (and later emperor) Lucius, discovers that the body will die in the strain between two souls. He sets things up so he can banish himself, as the interloper, but Lucius takes over the body at the last second to banish himself instead of Josan, having come to the conclusion that Josan is the better leader of the two of them, and more fit for the office of emperor.

* ''Dragon Slippers'': The war is ended and the evil princess killed, but so are good dragons Shardas and Velika. Luckily, it ends with a ray of hope, as it's hinted that the dragons aren't dead after all and Creel sets out to find them. The sequel confirms that they survived.

* ''Can't Get There From Here:'' The homeless gang splits up. Tears and Maggot are reunited with their families, but Rainbow, [=2Moro=], OG, Pest, and Country Club are dead, and Jewel's fate is left up in the air. Maybe's fate is more ambivalent; she is given the option of going to a homeless shelter, but it is left unclear if she actually does. At least it ends better than one of Todd Strasser's other novels, ''Boot Camp.''

* ''Dragon Slippers'': The war is ended and the evil princess killed, but so are good dragons Shardas and Velika. Luckily, their death is not permanent, so it ends with a ray of hope.

* The ending to ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'', although not without some happiness, left many readers in tears -- while Charlotte successfully saves Wilbur's life by writing positive messages about him in her web to convince Zuckerman not to kill him, she consequently dies in the penultimate chapter (to make things even sadder, [[DyingAlone she dies all alone]]).

** At the end of the series, on the good side, the war is over, Panem's tyranny has been defeated and is rebuilding, and Katniss and Peeta get to live happily ever after together with some BabiesEverAfter. On the other side, nearly everyone except Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Haymitch, Katniss and Prim's mother, Beetee, Johanna, Annie, Enobaria, Plutarch, and Paylor is dead, the living characters are burdened with deep emotional scars, and it's implied that the world will fall back into tyranny soon.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': On the good side, the war is over, Panem's tyranny has been defeated, and Katniss and Peeta get to live happily ever after together. On the other side, nearly everyone except Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Haymitch, Katniss and Prim's mother, Beetee, Johanna, Annie, Enobaria, Plutarch, and Paylor is dead, and it's implied that the world will fall back into tyranny soon.

* Literature/ShakuganNoShana ends with the Flame Hazes and Crimson Denizens finally making peace and with Xanadu being created. Unfortunately, it’s at the cost of protagonist Yuji Sakai’s existence for those not involved.

* This is about the best you can hope for with anything by Creator/HarryTurtledove. If it's not a straight-out DownerEnding, it typically goes like this: There's an overall victory for the good guys, but the world is irreperably changed, a lot of good people died or have their lives ruined, and a lot of bad guys are no worse off. Most of what Turtledove writes is alternative history fiction, which is generally presented in such a way as to be as "[[SlidingScaleLongName realistic]]" as possible -- and life itself rarely produces anything other than Bittersweet Endings.