History BittersweetEnding / Literature

** ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'' is heavily inspired by RudyardKipling's ''[[TheJungleBook Jungle Books]]'', which also have bittersweet endings. In ''TheJungleBook'' Mowgli succeeds in killing Shere Khan but manages to alienate both the wolf pack and the human village in the process. In ''TheSecondJungleBook'' Mowgli is reunited with his human mother but is forced to give up his life in the jungle.

* The last book from the {{Inheritance Cycle}} ends in a way that many fans (mostly those who like romance) will NOT like. In the end, even though [[spoiler:Eragon manages to defeat Galbatorix and all ends well in Alagaesia, he end up having to leave the place. Even after Arya and Eragon all but say they loved each other they still end up apart in the end because of their duties(which brings the question: why did Islanzadí died? That made no sense and spoiled her daughter's romance). As if that wasn't enough, poor Nasuada was left alone by Murtagh, when he leaves for his soul-healling trip.]] It can't be called a very happy ending, BUT the fans may yet hope for a fifth book (the author said he's likely to write it one day) that may contain a bit more of romance.

* Fitz of RobinHobb's ''[[RealmOfTheElderlings The Farseer]]'' ends up without the woman he loves, telling himself he didn't love her, in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, visited once in a while by a woman who he doesn't care about throughout the series and is mainly a pest.
** Though in the sequel series, ''The Tawny Man,'' things get better. There's still Bittersweet qualities, but it is overall a happy ending despite the characters that died on the way.

* In ''HarryPotter'', Voldemort and his Death Eaters have been destroyed or scattered, and Harry is free of his burden. On the other hand, many wonderful people have died.

** By ''Storm from Shadows'' they stop being bittersweet and start being {{Downer Ending}}s. ''Torch of Freedom'' is a nasty case of [=~Yank The Dog's Chain~=] disguised as a HappyEnding. Reading the books in the correct order means while not quite a ShaggyDogStory, it's only marginally better as their sucess won't stop Oyster Bay or the eminent war with the Solarian League.

* The {{Elenium}} ends with the death of [[EldritchAbomination Azash]] and Sparhawk returning home to his wife and daughter, but along the way we have the deaths of [[SacrificialLion Kurik]] and [[AlasPoorVillain Martel]], an entire nation left with no government or diety to watch over it, and an entire pantheon of gods who have retreated from interacting with mortals after realizing that they can be killed just like Azash.

* At the end of the ''{{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.

* Literature/Purple Hibiscus has one of these. The main character is a confident, free young woman but her father is dead, her brother is in prison and her mother is traumatised. It is implied things will soon take a turn for the better, however.

* Purple Hibiscus has one of these. The main character is a confident, free young woman but her father is dead, her brother is in prison and her mother is traumatised. It is implied things will soon take a turn for the better, however.

* Purple Hibiscus has one of these. The main character is a confident, free young woman but her father is dead, her brother is in prison and her mother is traumatised. It is implied things will soon take a turn for the better, however.

** ''MotherNight'': [[spoiler:Campbell's status as a double agent is confirmed, therefore clearing his charges for crimes against humanity... but he chooses to hang himself for "crimes against himself".]]

* ''NumberTheStars'': Ellen and the other Danish Jews escaped to safety, and after a TimeSkip Denmark is liberated from the Nazis. However, [[spoiler:Peter]] dies and is buried in an unknown grave, instead of [[spoiler:with Lise]]. Also, Lise's death before the story becomes bittersweet once it's revealed that she was part of LaResistance and was actually run down by a Nazi car.

* The conclusion of GarthNix's ''Abhorsen'': Hedge is dead, Orannis is bound anew, and most of the main characters, plus the innocents they were trying to protect, survive. However, Lirael loses her hand, Nick will have to struggle against the Free Magic still in his blood for the rest of his life, and the Disreputable Dog is dead. OrIsIt? This ''is'' one of the Seven we're talking about here...

* ''TheLastUnicorn'' has a very bittersweet ending: the unicorns are freed, but Lir loses his love, and the questing unicorn has learned to regret (something her immortal kin can't understand).

* ''Literature/OneDay'' ends with one protagonist picking up the pieces of their shattered life and moving on after the love of their life was killed, while keeping the memory of them as a couple alive.

* The book version of ''ThePrincessBride'' has this ending. Sort of. William Goldman relates a cliffhanger ending, and then skips it, and then ruminates that maybe life for the heroes wasn't really perfect ever after, and finally he concludes, "Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all."

** ''TheDarkHalf'' seems to have a happy ending, but becomes this when you read later Castle Rock books. Stark is destroyed and Thad Beaumont's family is saved, but it's revealed in ''NeedfulThings'' that the psychological scars left by the ordeal drove Thad to drink and ruined his marriage, and eventually he killed himself.

* Pretty much every book in the ''HonorHarrington'' series, due to heavy loss of life during each and every final battle. At All Costs is the worst, with the Manticoran Home Fleet completely wiped out and her friend Alistair [=McKeon=] killed only suceeding in gutting the Haven offensive forces with their defenses and production still intact.

* Although the Sentinels beat the Big Bad, ''WearingTheCape'' ends with a [[spoiler: state funeral for ''close to half the team]].''

** Come to think of it, {{Coraline}} isn't that happy in book version, either. The heroine's [[AbusiveParents parents neglect her as before]] (as opposed to the movie, here it is permanent). And the Other Mother is still alive and may get out [[spoiler: should somebody force the door open]]. And of course, any possible wonders are evil, so we should just stick to our world, with all its problems.

* NeilGaiman's ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'' also ends on a bittersweet note, with Bod defeating the bad guys so that he is safely able to leave the graveyard and join the outside world. However, doing so means that he [[TheMagicGoesAway can no longer see or hear the dead which he grew up with]], including his adoptive parents, and must join a world utterly unfamiliar to him. He's also rejected by his childhood friend Scarlett, the only living person who he had a connection to, who ends up afraid of him and decides that she would rather forget his existence.

** The next novel, ''Changes'', is worse: [[spoiler: The Red Vampires are wiped out (thereby finally facing justice for millenia of torture and enslavement), allowing the people they have enslaved and terrorized to finally forge their own destiny without living in fear. But, in order to accomplish this, Harry not only has to kill his love interest with his own hands to turn the [[PoweredByAForsaken Child ritual]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard against the Red Court]], he also has to sacrifice his free will by becoming TheDragon to an amoral goddess in order to gain the power to save his daughter. Said daughter will never be able to live with him, as he'd be putting her at risk. He also has practically nothing; his house, car and staff and duster are gone, his cat Mister is missing, and his apprentice is currently in the hospital along with his dog. And then [[ItGotWorse someone shoots him]].]]

** The next novel, ''Changes'', is worse: [[spoiler: The Red Vampires are wiped out (thereby finally facing justice for millenia of torture and enslavement), allowing the people they have enslaved and terrorized to finally forge their own destiny without living in fear. But, in order to accomplish this, Harry not only has to kill his love interest with his own hands to turn the [[Powered by a Forsaken Child ritual]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard against the Red Court]], he also has to sacrifice his free will by becoming TheDragon to an amoral goddess in order to gain the power to save his daughter. Said daughter will never be able to live with him, as he'd be putting her at risk. He also has practically nothing; his house, car and staff and duster are gone, his cat Mister is missing, and his apprentice is currently in the hospital along with his dog. And then [[ItGotWorse someone shoots him]].]]

** Salvatore seems to be leaning heavily towards a BittersweetEnding these days, likely because of the crap the campaign setting goes through. So while in ''The Orc King'' the Kingdom of Dark Arrows and Mithral Hall become uneasy allies and Wulfgar's daughter is found, Wulfgar leaves the {{Nakama}} for Icewind Dale, giving his daughter back to her blood mother. In ''The Pirate King'', the city of Luskan is all but destroyed in a war to dislodge its hidden master -- and while he loses, said lich still survives. Meanwhile, Longsaddle is still going, but has been reduced to a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything sadly blatant allegory for modern America with its security woes]]. On the other hand, while Wulfgar ain't comin' back, he's not only going to survive, but thrive back in his true home. Finally, in ''The Ghost King'', the Spellplague hits, and while the Ghost King is destroyed, in the process Catti-brie and Regis take [[strike:the ships]] a unicorn to [[strike:Valinor]] Mielikki's garden, and Cadderly sacrifices his life and indeed the Spirit Soaring itself to do the deed, to say nothing of the destruction of Carradoon and the many many people killed by the Ghost King's attacks, armies, and the Spellplague itself.

** The next novel, ''Changes'', is worse: [[spoiler: The Red Vampires are wiped out (thereby finally facing justice for millenia of torture and enslavement), allowing the people they have enslaved and terrorized to finally forge their own destiny without living in fear; but in order to do so Harry not only had to kill his love interest with his own hands in a Powered by a Forsaken Child ritual, he also had to sacrifice his free will by becoming TheDragon to an amoral goddess in order to gain the power to save his child who even though he saved will never be able to live with him because of the differences and the crime harry had to do to save her. He also has practically nothing; his house, car and staff and duster are gone, his cat Mouse is missing, and his apprentice is currently in the hospital along with his dog. And then someone shoots him.]]

* TheTomorrowSeries: At the end, the war is over...[[spoiler: but Australia's lost a lot of territory to the invaders, and several of Ellie's {{Nakama}} are dead. ]]Then you get to the sequel series...and ItGotWorse.

* Although the Sentinels beat the Big Bad, ''WearingTheCape'' ends with a state funeral for ''close to half the team.''

** The ending of the ''Empire Of The East'' trilogy, set in an earlier period in the same universe, is happy except for one key point: [[BigGood Ardneh]] [[ThanatosGambit dies]].

* In Marti Steussy's s-f novel ''Forest of the Night'', the main character fulfills her childhood dream in the end. [[spoiler:But by then, her [[TheObiWan mentor]] is dead, as is the [[IllBoy disabled native child]] whom she'd befriended. She's had to dump her boyfriend, because it's clear he'll never fully understand her. And she's become [[KnightInSourArmor generally disillusioned]].]]