History Main / HappinessRealizedTooLate

* ''Literature/TheMagicians'': In the final flashback sequence of ''The Magician King'', Julia finds herself participating in the Free Trader Beowulf Group's attempt to [[spoiler:summon a goddess in order to attain ultimate truth and happiness]]. However, just as the ritual is on the verge of completion, she realizes that she doesn't actually want or need anything this final experiment could provide: she's already perfectly happy as a member of the FTB; she has friends who understand her, she has all the intellectual challenges she could ever want, and best of all [[BlueCollarWarlock she's studying magic]] [[IJustWantToBeSpecial as she always dreamed of doing]]... but by now, it's too late to protest. [[spoiler:The ritual ends up summoning a monstrous TricksterGod who slaughters most of Julia's friends, then grants her the knowledge that the group wanted -- by brutally raping her and tearing her soul out.]] For good measure, [[spoiler:though Julia is able to eventually recover from the trauma and eventually gain a new, happy life as a dryad, she makes it abundantly clear that [[ThatManIsDead the woman she was is gone forever]] and she can never regain the happiness she once knew.]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

-->-- '''Conrad Kellogg,''' ''VideoGame/Fallout4''

Sometimes, a character will spend their life pursuing a goal, often to the exclusion of all others. It can be spectacularly ambitious, or it can be quite simple; it might not even be all that focused - maybe the character's just anxious [[GrassIsGreener for a change of scenery]], or AimlesslySeekingHappiness.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist:'' Greed has spent his life trying to own everything in an attempt to fill what he likens to a feeling of emptiness inside him ever since he was born. [[spoiler:However, as Father kills him, Greed belatedly realizes he's happy with the relationships he has formed, satisfying the feeling of emptiness and allowing him to ultimately be at peace in his final moments.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' fanfic ''Fanfic/AllTheWorldsAToybox'', Grunkle Ford laments the fact that he had everything he'd ever wanted in Gravity Falls and threw it all away before he realized what he had. As he notes, he was performing groundbreaking research, he was working alongside his best friend, he was living in a town where he felt accepted in spite of [[ExtraDigits his deformities]], and he even had enough findings to make himself rich and famous if he'd only publish them... but thanks to his obsessions and [[TheCorrupter Bill Cipher's influence]], he didn't even notice how happy he was until it was too late.

* ''Film/CitizenKane:'' introduced isolated inside his unfinished [[BigFancyHouse palatial mansion]], media mogul Charles Foster Kane lies DyingAlone, having lived in seclusion from the world for many years after the wholesale failure of his ambitions and relationships. With his final breath, he utters the word "Rosebud." The movie unfolds in flashback as IntrepidReporter Jerry Thompson tries to unravel the significance of Kane's dying declaration by interviewing those who knew him. However, no one he talks to knows just who or what Rosebud was, the closest answer he gets is from Kane's butler who concludes he was just saying a nonsense word. Thompson never does solve the mystery, though the answer is shown to the audience in the final scene: [[spoiler: ItWasHisSled from his childhood that represented a simpler, happy time that Kane could never recover. [[AnAesop The conclusion?]] It is indeed LonelyAtTheTop.]]

* ''Film/IntoTheWild'': As he stays trapped and isolated in a remote Alaskan wilderness, Chris has an epiphany that the happiness he was searching for was with his family and all the people he met on his travels, concluding in his journal that "Happiness only real when shared." Unfortunately it's too late for him to reunite with them, [[spoiler: and he dies from a mixture of poisoning and starvation soon after.]]

* ''[[Literature/TheAncientFutureTrilogy The Ancient Future: The Dark Age]]'': After being left to rot in Chiglas' dungeon following his failed coup, the former Prince Caradoc gradually realizes that he was much happier as a child, growing up alongside Maelgwn and being mentored by Sorcha. Of course, by then it's far too late to return to those days...

* ''Literature/GoneGirl'': Despite their marriage having deteriorated into the MasochismTango, both Nick and Amy realize separately that many things they came to resent about each other (for Amy, Nick's inattention; for Nick, Amy's impossibly high standards) were also things they loved about each other that turned them into better people - for Amy, Nick allowed her to relax, and Amy pushed Nick to be the best version of himself and provided him with an intellectual challenge.
* In the final flashback sequence of ''[[Literature/TheMagicians The Magician King]],'' Julia finds herself participating in the Free Trader Beowulf Group's attempt to [[spoiler:summon a goddess in order to attain ultimate truth and happiness]]. However, just as the ritual is on the verge of completion, she realizes that she doesn't actually want or need anything this final experiment could provide: she's already perfectly happy as a member of the FTB; she has friends who understand her, she has all the intellectual challenges she could ever want, and best of all [[BlueCollarWarlock she's studying magic]] [[IJustWantToBeSpecial as she always dreamed of doing]]... but by now, it's too late to protest. [[spoiler:The ritual ends up summoning a monstrous Trickster God who slaughters most of Julia's friends, then grants her the knowledge that the group wanted - by brutally raping her and tearing her soul out.]] For good measure, [[spoiler:though Julia is able to eventually recover from the trauma and eventually gain a new, happy life as a dryad, she makes it abundantly clear that [[ThatManIsDead the woman she was is gone forever]] and she can never regain the happiness she once knew]].

* In the ''Series/BabylonFive'' episode "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E07TheWarPrayer The War Prayer]]", Londo Mollari relates something his father said when he has a HeelRealization and allows two young Centauri to get out of their {{arranged marriage}}s. Season 5 of the series would explore this in depth: he gets to see the ghost of an old lover (recalling his happiness in the first season) and becomes Emperor [[spoiler:but has a PuppeteerParasite attached to him.]]
-->'''Londo:''' Something my father said. He was... Old, very old at the time. I went into his room, and he was sitting, alone in the dark, crying. So I asked him what was wrong, and he said, "My shoes are too tight. But it doesn't matter, because I have forgotten how to dance." I never understood what that meant until now. My shoes are too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance.
** Indeed, as the series proceeds, Londo begins to do what he can to make sure this ''doesn't'' happen to his aide, Vir Cotto. [[spoiler:This seems to have worked--as of ''Sleeping In Light'', Vir seems to be as happy as he ever has been.]]
* One ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' episode had Spinner and Jay, both expelled after their bullying lead to a school shooting, break in one night to vandalize it. While there, Spinner comes across pictures and other memories of the good times and great friends he made there, only to give it all up to befriend [[ToxicFriendInfluence Jay.]]

* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'': in his memories, [[TheDragon Conrad Kellogg]] notes that he honestly didn't realize just how happy he was [[spoiler: with his wife and child - up until the enemies he'd made over the course of his career murdered both of them]]. As a result, he's left with nothing but his job as a mercenary to live for, ultimately setting him on a path that ended in him becoming the Institute's personal enforcer and the murderer of the [[PlayerCharacter Sole Survivor]]'s spouse.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry4'': During the game's prologue in his palace, Pagan Min muses that this is the difference between men and women:
--->'''Pagan''': The last time I saw Ishwari was years ago. She told me she loved me. Women, they can do that. They can say they love you in the moment and mean it. Men on the other hand...no, men can only really love you in hindsight. When too much distance has built up...

* During the final confrontation between Therese and Jeanette Voerman in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', the Fledgling has the option of asking if there was never a time when the sisters ''weren't'' at each others' throats. The two hesitantly explain that when they were young, [[ControlFreak their father]] was convinced that they would only get hurt if they left the house and forced them to stay indoors - where they simply [[MrImagination imagined worlds of their own]]. Back in the present, the two of them regretfully muse that they were so happy ruling those worlds together before they grew apart. It's ultimately this realization that prompts Therese and Jeanette to finally mend their bridges and take over Santa Monica together.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': Spongebob quits his beloved job and leaves behind all his friends to live among the jellyfish. However, he finds that life in the wild is cruel and unbearable, and the jellyfish will not accept him as one of their own, constantly stinging him. He trudges himself, passing by familiar buildings, and becomes saddened as he realized what he sacrificed for a pipe dream.
-->'''Spongebob''': What have I done? I had a great life and friends and I gave that all up!

* It takes until the end of ''{{Film/Clerks}}'' and a few wise words from Silent Bob for Dante to conclude he really did want to stay with Veronica rather than return to Caitlyn. But by the time he's done so, his selfish deeds from earlier in the day cause her to break up with him.

* ''The Fir Tree'' by Creator/HansChristianAndersen features a young fir tree wishing that it could be as big as the other fir trees of the forest, or at the very least be cut down to make something as valuable as a ship's mast. However, when it finds that other small fir trees are being cut down for Christmas, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor the little tree thinks being ornamented and treasured throughout the happiest time of the year sounds even better]], and rejoices when it becomes a family's Christmas tree... only to end up being discarded in the attic at the end of the festivities, where it remains until spring arrives, [[DownerEnding whereupon it's unceremoniously dragged outside, sneered at, cut to pieces and burned]]. In the end, all the tree can do is look back on its earlier days and wish that it had enjoyed them when it had the chance.
* In the final flashback sequence of ''[[Literature/TheMagicians The Magician King]],'' Julia finds herself participating in the Free Trader Beowulf Group's attempt to [[spoiler: summon a goddess in order to attain ultimate truth and happiness.]] However, just as the ritual is on the verge of completion, she realizes that she doesn't actually want or need anything this final experiment could provide: she's already perfectly happy as a member of the FTB; she has friends who understand her, she has all the intellectual challenges she could ever want, and best of all [[BlueCollarWarlock she's studying magic]] [[IJustWantToBeSpecial as she always dreamed of doing]]... but by now, it's too late to protest. [[spoiler: The ritual ends up summoning a monstrous Trickster God who slaughters most of Julia's friends, then grants her the knowledge that the group wanted - by brutally raping her and tearing her soul out.]] For good measure, [[spoiler: though Julia is able to eventually recover from the trauma and eventually gain a new, happy life as a dryad, she makes it abundantly clear that [[ThatManIsDead the woman she was is gone forever]] and she can never regain the happiness she once knew.]]
* Towards the end of ''[[Literature/NomesTrilogy Wings]]'', after finally managing to get hold of the [[CoolStarship ancient Nome ship]], Masklin briefly finds himself wishing that he was living in a hole in the ground again: despite all the effort he spent at the start of the trilogy struggling to escape it, he admits that even if the burrow was cold, wet and [[DeathWorld surrounded by dangers]], he at least had Grimma and he didn't have to spend his days chasing goals he barely understood. [[spoiler: In the end, he uses the ship to rescue Grimma and the rest of the quarry Nomes, allowing him to gain new happiness in a lifestyle among the stars.]]

* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'': While Conker's main goal is to get home, he also becomes obsessed with collecting as much money as he can on his travels. At the end of the game, he successfully collects one million dollars. Just as he begins to celebrate, [[spoiler: the Panther King has Berri gunned down]]. Following the death of the Panther King, everybody decides to make Conker the new King with all the money in the world. However, Conker realizes he doesn't want any of it and wishes he could just be home with Berri, [[spoiler: still saddened over losing her]].

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': In the Golden Age Arc, Guts leaves the Band of the Hawk because he's decided he needs to become what Griffith would consider a true friend: someone who doesn't cling to another person's dream, but fights to realize their own. Before leaving he talks to Judeau and Casca about how he didn't belong in the Band of the Hawk in the first place, and was like a traveller who stopped to warm himself by their campfire before resuming his lonely journey. It turns out Guts didn't realize just how much Griffith needed him emotionally, and that despair sets off a chain of events that leaves Griffith ruined and the Band of the Hawk about to split up. When Gaston and the raiders come running to Guts and say they want to go with him, Guts has a crushing realization that the Band of the Hawk was his family after all, but he didn't realize it until now when it's too late to undo the consequences of his choice.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': In the Golden Age Arc, Guts leaves the Band of the Hawk because he's decided he needs to become what Griffith would consider a true friend: someone who doesn't cling to another person's dream, but fights to realize their own. Before leaving he talks to Judeau and Casca about how he didn't belong in the Band of the Hawk in the first place, and was like a traveller who stopped to warm himself by their campfire before resuming his lonely journey. It turns out Guts didn't realize just how much Griffith needed him emotionally, and that despair sets off a chain of events that leaves Griffith ruined and the Band of the Hawk about to split up. When Gaston and the raiders come running to Guts and say they want to go with him, Guts has a crushing realization that the Band of the Hawk was his family after all, but he didn't realize it until it was too late to undo the past.

* Manga/{{Berserk}}: In the Golden Age Arc, Guts leaves the Band of the Hawk because he's decided he needs to become what Griffith would consider a true friend: someone who doesn't cling to another person's dream, but fights to realize their own. Before leaving he talks to Judeau and Casca about how he didn't belong in the Band of the Hawk in the first place, and was like a traveller who stopped to warm himself by their campfire before resuming his lonely journey. It turns out Guts didn't realize just how much Griffith needed him emotionally, and that despair sets off a chain of events that leaves Griffith ruined and the Band of the Hawk about to split up. When Gaston and the raiders come running to Guts and say they want to go with him, Guts has a crushing realization that the Band of the Hawk was his family after all, but he didn't realize it until it was too late to undo the past.

* Manga/{{Berserk}}: In the Golden Age Arc, Guts leaves the Band of the Hawk because he's decided he needs to become what Griffith would consider a true friend: someone who doesn't cling to another person's dream, but fights to realize their own. Before leaving he talks to Judeau and Casca about how he didn't belong in the Band of the Hawk in the first place, and was like a traveller who stopped to warm himself by their campfire before resuming his lonely journey. It turns out Guts didn't realize just how much Griffith needed him emotionally, and that despair sets off a chain of events that leaves Griffith ruined and the Band of the Hawk about to split up. When Gaston and the raiders come running to Guts and say they want to go with him, Guts has a crushing realization that the Band of the Hawk was his family after all, but didn't realize it until it was too late to undo the past.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist:'' [[spoiler: Greed has spent his life trying to own everything in an attempt to fill what he likens to a feeling of emptiness inside him ever since he was born. However, as Father kills him, Greed belatedly realizes he's happy with the relationships he has formed, satisfying the feeling of emptiness and allowing him to ultimately be at peace in his final moments.]]

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder: Film - Live Action]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': Spongebob quits his beloved job and leaves behind all his friends to live among the jellyfish. However, he finds that life in the wild is cruel and unbearable, and the jellyfish will not accept him as one of their own, constantly stinging him. He trudges himself, passing by familiar buildings, and becomes saddened as he realized what he sacrificed for a PipeDream.

* ''Film/CitizenKane:'' introduced isolated inside his unfinished [[BigFancyHouse palatial mansion]], media mogul Charles Foster Kane lies DyingAlone, having lived in seclusion from the world for many years after the wholesale failure of his ambitions and relationships. [[FamousLastWords With his final breath]], he utters the word "Rosebud." The movie unfolds in flashback as IntrepidReporter Jerry Thompson tries to unravel the significance of Kane's dying declaration by interviewing those who knew him. However, no one he talks to knows just who or what Rosebud was, the closest answer he gets is from Kane's butler who concludes he was just saying a nonsense word. Thompson never does solve the mystery, though the answer is shown to the audience in the final scene: [[spoiler: ItWasHisSled from his childhood that represented a simpler, happy time that Kane could never recover. [[AnAesop The conclusion?]] It is indeed LonelyAtTheTop.]]

->'''Spongebob''': What have I done? I had a great life and friends and I gave that all up!

--->'''Spongebob''': What have I done? I had a great life and friends and I gave that all up!

-->--'''Conrad Kellogg,''' ''VideoGame/Fallout4''

* ''Film/CitizenKane:'' introduced isolated inside his unfinished [[BigFancyHouse palatial mansion]], media mogul Charles Foster Kane lies DyingAlone, having lived in seclusion from the world for many years after the wholesale failure of his ambitions and relationships. [[FamousLastWords With his final breath]], he utters the word "Rosebud." The movie unfolds in flashback as IntrepidReporter Jerry Thompson tries to unravel the significance of Kane's dying declaration through interviewing those who knew him. However, no one he talks to knows just who or what Rosebud was, the closest answer he gets is from Kane's butler who concludes he was just saying a nonsense word. Thompson never does solve the mystery, though the answer is shown to the audience in the final scene: [[spoiler: ItWasHisSled from his childhood that represented a simpler, happy time that Kane could never recover. [[AnAesop The conclusion?]] It is indeed LonelyAtTheTop.]]

* ''Literature/GoneGirl'': Despite their marriage having deteriorated into the MasochismTango, both Nick and Amy realize separately that many of things they came to resent about each other (for Amy, Nick's inattention, and for Nick, Amy's impossibly high standards) were also things they loved about each other that turned them into better people - for Amy, Nick allowed her to relax, and Amy pushed Nick to be the best version of himself and provided him with an intellectual challenge.

* During the final confrontation between Therese and Jeanette Voerman in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', the Fledgling has the option of asking if there was never a time when the sisters ''weren't'' at each others' throats. The two hesitantly explain that when they were young, [[ControlFreak their father]] was convinced that they would only get hurt if they left the house and forced them to to stay indoors - where they simply [[MrImagination imagined worlds of their own]]. Back in the present, the two of them regretfully muse that they were so happy ruling those worlds together before they grew apart. It's ultimately this realization that prompts Therese and Jeanette to finally mend their bridges and take over Santa Monica together.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' fanfic ''Fanfic/AllTheWorldsAToybox'', Grunkle Ford laments the fact that he had everything he'd ever wanted in Gravity Falls and threw it all away before he realized what he had. As he notes, he was performing groundbreaking research, he was working alongside his best friend, he was living in a town where he felt accepted in spite of [[ExtraDigits his deformities]], and he even had enough findings to make himself rich and famous if he'd only publish them... but thanks to his obsessions and [[TheCorrupter Bill Ciphers's influence]], he didn't even notice how happy he was until it was too late.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': PlayedForLaughs in "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E20Godfellas Godfellas]]". Following the SpacePirates attack on the Planet Express Ship, the pirate captain has an epiphany and states, "too late I realize my children are my only real treasures", right before his ship explodes.

* WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}: PlayedForLaughs in "Godfellas". Following the SpacePirates attack on the Planet Express Ship, the pirate captain has an epiphany and states, "too late I realize my children are my only real treasures", right before his ship explodes.
[[/folder]]

* In the ''Series/BabylonFive'' episode "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E07TheWarPrayer The War Prayer]]", Londo Mollari relates something his father said when he has a HeelRealization and allows two young Centauri to get out of their arranged marriages. Season 5 of the series would explore this in depth: he gets to see the ghost of an old lover (recalling his happiness in the first season) and becomes Emperor [[spoiler:but has a PuppeteerParasite attached to him.]]

* Series/BabylonFive - in {{Recap/BabylonFiveS01E07TheWarPrayer}} Londo Mollari relates something his father said when he has a HeelRealization and allows two young Centari to get out of their arranged marriages. Season 5 of the series would explore this in depth: he gets to see the ghost of an old lover (recalling his happiness in the first season) and becomes Emperor [[spoiler:but has a PuppeteerParasite attached to him.]]