History Main / TooHappyToLive

* In ''Comicbook/TheUltimates'', Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are [[BrotherSisterIncest a couple]], but how happy they are about it is the portent of tragedy.

This isn't to say this trope is only used to unjustly torment heroes; [[StartOfDarkness villains can be born from these tragedies]] (or kept from a HeelFaceTurn) in equal measure. [[TropesAreTools Nor is the use of this trope a sign of poor writing]]; personal {{tragedy}} is a valid motivation for characters, as is the struggle to EarnYourHappyEnding. Only when the story [[TragicDream sabotages the character's dreams]] to preserve StatusQuoIsGod at the expense of [[EmotionalTorque catharsis]] does this trope start to go overboard.

* Parodied in ''Film/HotShots''; one guy happily talking to his wife just before he went to fly. He's not only happily married to a perfect gal, but also has yet to sign his life insurance policies ''and'' he just recently discovered the secret to world peace ''and'' who really killed JFK. But he'll deal with all that stuff [[TemptingFate after this one last mission]]. His callsign, by the way, is "[[MeaningfulName Dead Meat]]."

* ''Literature/TheFellowshipOfTheRing'': You live in an idyllic little town where everything is green lawns, simple folks, and blue skies. You spend your days in the woods, the hills, little rivers... When all of a sudden, your uncle disappears, his best friend tells you you have to leave your home immediately, and big scary horsemen with big scary swords stab you with a soul-stealing dagger, leaving a wound which will never heal.

* In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', the narrator notes that while the Fellowship spends a while in Rivendell, there's nothing to report because they were too comfortable and content, then {{lampshade|Hanging}}s the trope noting that isn't it interesting that when characters are suffering there are pages and pages of description, while when they're happy, it's boring and warrants only a sentence or two.

* This happens a lot in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' fiction. If you ever see ANY peaceful farmers or other common people, living pleasant lives and thanking the God-Emperor daily for the blessings He has seen fit to bestow upon them, you can expect a war which will kill most or all of them to break out within the chapter.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' does this to [[spoiler: Jin and Sun]]. After being apart for nearly two seasons, [[spoiler: Sun ]]thinking [[spoiler: Jin ]]is dead, [[spoiler: Sun ]]returning to the island only for [[spoiler: Jin]] to be stuck in the '70s, [[spoiler: Jin]] coming back to the present only to be moved to another part of the island any time [[spoiler: Sun]] might find the group he's with and they finally reunite only for both of them to die along with [[spoiler: Sayid]] in the next episode.
* ''Series/JoanOfArcadia'' featured the spunky new friend added into the second season who was quirky and happy and full of life and is then stabbed to death in an alley way for drama.
* Ianto in ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''. Okay, ''happy'' might not be the exact word, but he's just managed to accept his relationship with Jack, tell his sister about it, and generally ''not'' be a blob of angst in a sharp suit... And then boom, incurable alien virus.
* On ''Series/{{Sisters}}'', second-oldest sister Teddy was finally happy after years of trauma and preparing to buy a house with her new husband (who himself had been through years of hell), when he was killed via a CarBomb by a crime lord he was preparing to testify against.
* In the series 3 finale of ''Series/{{Misfits}}'', Simon and Alisha get in a fight provoked by the ghost of Sally (who Simon killed), and who later tries to kill Alisha. Simon saves her and the two reconciled as ghost!Sally fades away and make love and... in the last five minutes of the episode, as they leave a room happy and smiling at each other, [[spoiler: Rachel (who was killed by Nathan) appears as a ghost and kills Alisha in the spot as payback before fading away.]]
* The pilot episode of the 2000 remake of ''Series/TheFugitive'' spends the first 15 minutes establishing that Richard Kimble basically had it all--[[HappilyMarried a beautiful wife he adored]], plans to buy a house, discussion of starting a family, a stellar surgical career--before it was blown apart by his wife's murder and his subsequent wrongful conviction.
* After the crews split up in the third season of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', the Crichton who went with Aeryn aboard Talyn got Harvey removed from his head, unlocked the wormhole knowledge in his brain and could now utilize it to get home, and hooked up with his {{Love Interest|s}}, basically accomplishing all of Crichton's goals on the show. We can't have that now, can we?
* Done on ''Series/TwentyFour'' with Jack Bauer and...[[CartwrightCurse just about any major love interest he's had on the show]], as well as Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler.
* Used utterly without shame at the end of the ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' 2012 Christmas special. After Mary gives birth to her and Matthew's son, we get a few minutes of them sitting together in hospital, gushing about how happy they are and how Matthew falls more in love with her every day. Back home, the rest of the cast are discussing [[TemptingFate how far away the less certain times in their lives seem now]]. Then Matthew dies in a car accident in the last two minutes.
* ''Series/HomeAndAway''. All the fucking time. Then again, it is a SoapOpera.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** [[spoiler: Robb Stark]] has things going exceptionally well for him at one point. He's been quite successful in his war, he just secured an alliance that would allow him a possible decisive victory, he's married and [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter his wife is expecting]]. Then comes the [[WhamEpisode Red Wedding]]. The TV adaptation played up how idyllic his life was compared to the novels.
** Spoofed wonderfully in the "Game of Thrones Ultimate Rap Battle," which depicts him as relentlessly cheerful in the face of the rest of his family's misery and incredibly {{Genre Blind|ness}} about his inevitable downfall.
-->''Yeah we're heading to a wedding, gonna party today,''\\
''And I'm gonna be a dad? God, everything's GREAT!''
** Everything seems to go well for Myrcella: she falls in love with the boy she's arranged to marry, she reveals to Jaime that she knew he's her real father and they have a sweet father-daughter bonding moment. She dies instantly after that.
* ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'': Fan favorite [[HitmanWithAHeart Richard Harrow]] has decided to leave his past behind. He's married to a woman he loves, has adopted his late best friend's so as his own, and is set to move away from the gangster life into a comfortable life with his sister. He just needs to perform OneLastJob, though...
* Subverted on ''Series/LawAndOrderUK''. DS Ronnie Brooks gushes to partner DS Matt Devlin about the birth of his grandson and the possibility of reconciling with his estranged daughter. Minutes later. . .''Matt'' is shot.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': At the start of "Face the Raven", the first episode of a three-part SeasonFinale, the Doctor and Clara Oswald -- who have spent the last two-plus seasons in a relationship that has evolved into their becoming at the very least PlatonicLifePartners -- are just coming back into the TARDIS after making a narrow escape from their latest wacky adventure, smiling and laughing. Then the phone rings...by the end of this episode, Clara is [[spoiler: Killed Off For Real]] and the Doctor is shipped off to parts unknown for the benefit of his enemies. Although she demands he not let this turn him into a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, neither knows about the ColdBloodedTorture he's going to undergo, and with no MoralityChain he temporarily becomes a VillainProtagonist. Played with in that over the course of the season the Doctor and Clara being so happy is presented as a problem in and of itself: Since he is functionally immortal and she is not it's inevitable that they will be separated for good at some point, but thanks to undergoing so many personal tragedies and triumphs together they're now codependent. With his focus on her increasingly getting in the way of relationships with others and his need to help whomever he can, the season ends with both of them having to accept that they must part and find other ways to be happy.
* ''Series/{{ER}}'''s Greg Pratt was about to be named ER Chief and propose to his girlfriend when he was killed in a car accident.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}''' Ellie Bishop is blissfully happy with her new boyfriend when he's killed. In the episode where she avenges him, it's revealed she would have accepted his proposal had he not died.
* ''Series/MillionYenWomen'': When [[spoiler:Nanaka]] was killed, she was not only considering starting to work again after a year-long sabbatical and really looking forward to the gig, but also seemed like she could start dating Shin.

* ''Film/TheMothmanProphecies''. John and Mary are ecstatic over their purchase of a new home, laughing on the car on the way back to it. And then disaster strikes...

* The pilot episode of the 2000 remake of ''Series/TheFugitive'' spends the first 15 minutes establishing that Richard Kimble basically had it all--[[HappilyMarried a beautiful wife he adored]], plans to buy a house, discussion of starting a family--before it was blown apart by his wife's murder and his subsequent wrongful conviction.

* So you've moved up the ladder in life. You have a loving foster father, and an adorable foster little sister. You steadily rise in your occupation, what's with being [[TheParagon a phenomenally talented person]]. Your fiancee is the son of one of your higher-ups. The aforementioned little sister is going your path, and is an even more talented person than you. Things will be getting even better in the future, right? The answer is, unfortunately, a profoundly resounding NO, because your name is [[Anime/GaReiZero Yomi Isayama]].

* In ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', it appears that the universe goes out of its way to horribly destroy anyone that even ''tries'' to be happier. For example, we have Kaworu Nagisa, the only person in the entirety of the series which is shown to love Shinji unconditionally. [[spoiler:He doesn't even last the episode he appears in.]]
** In ''End of Evangelion'', [[spoiler:Asuka]] spends [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome a good 10 minutes fighting off the [=MP-Evas=], after finding a reason to live]] (her mother is with her and she loves her) only to have them [[spoiler:get back up and kill her]].
*** Also in ''End of Evangelion''. [[spoiler:When Lilith begins the Instrumentality of mankind, various Rei dopplegangers take the appearance of people that each human loves (such as Misato for Makoto Hyuuga, Yui for Fuyutsuki, and [[LesYay Ritsuko for Maya]]), giving them such pleasure and happiness before destroying their AT field and reducing them to a puddle of orange goo.]]

* The final arc before Comicbook/SuperiorSpiderMan.
* You're a Vietnam vet with a good life with your lovely wife and adorable children. Then they all get murdered by a botched Mafia hit. So what do you do? Start wearing a [[Comicbook/ThePunisher black shirt with a white skull]] printed on it, [[MoreDakka get as many guns as you can carry]], go [[AxCrazy completely nuts]] and [[KillEmAll kill everyone]] [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner you believe might]] be even [[DisproportionateRetribution vaguely criminal]]. Subverted in ''[[Comicbook/ThePunisherMAX Punisher Max]]''. Frank ''wasn't'' happy with his life since he discovered his inner BloodKnight in 'Nam and was dissatisfied with peace. Frank is haunted by the fact that he had asked his wife for a divorce right before she and their children were killed in the botched Mafia hit.

* ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant Lord Foul's Bane]]''. Thomas Covenant {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this, pondering if he had lived an entire lifetime's worth of laughter before the discovery of his leprosy.

* The infamous Literature/BookOfJob in ''Literature/TheBible'' starts out with a happy, faithful man who has everything he could ever want; a prosperous farm, perfect health, and a loving family. Then God decides to test his faith by letting Satan destroy his life piece by piece. His livestock die, his home is destroyed, his family is killed, and he himself breaks out in boils. He did pass the test of faith and ends up getting back more than he even had before, but too bad if you were part of his original family. You're just collateral damage.

-->'''Scotty''': "I cannot go on! I'm tired of happiness. I'm tired of comfort and pleasure. I'm ready! Kill me! Kill me!"
-->[Kirk and others mime shooting hand phasers, complete with vocalized sound-effects]
-->"Goodbye, cruel universe."
-->'''[=McCoy=]''': "He's dead."
-->'''Android''': "You...cannot have killed him. You have no weapons."
-->'''Kirk''': "Scotty! Scotty's dead. He had too much happiness. Now he's happier; he's dead. We'll miss him. Let us hear it for our poor, dead friend."
-->[human characters all laugh]

*** Spoofed wonderfully in the "Game of Thrones Ultimate Rap Battle," which depicts him as relentlessly cheerful in the face of the rest of his family's misery and incredibly {{Genre Blind|ness}} about his inevitable downfall.
--> ''Yeah we're heading to a wedding, gonna party today,''
--> ''And I'm gonna be a dad? God, everything's GREAT!''

* ''Franchise/StarOcean'' is pretty fond of this:

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': [[spoiler: Robb Stark]] has things going exceptionally well for him at one point. He's been quite successful in his war, he just secured an alliance that would allow him a possible decisive victory, he's married and [[BabiesMakeEverythingBetter his wife is expecting]]. Then comes the [[WhamEpisode Red Wedding]]. The TV adaptation played up how idyllic his life was compared to the novels.
** Spoofed wonderfully in the "Game of Thrones Ultimate Rap Battle," which depicts him as relentlessly cheerful in the face of the rest of his family's misery and incredibly {{Genre Blind|ness}} about his inevitable downfall.

-->-- '''[[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]]''''s review on ''VideoGame/{{NieR}}''.

->''"You know how in some {{R|olePlayingGames}}PGs you start off in your lovely idyllic green grass village where smiling neighbors bid you how-do-you-do that is virtually guaranteed to get Hiroshimafied before the second act?"''

** [[Series/{{Angel}} Wesley and Fred too]]. While singing "You are my sunshine", no less.

Closely related to the RuleOfDrama. See also TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth.

* On ''Sisters'', second-oldest sister Teddy was finally happy after years of trauma and preparing to buy a house with her new husband (who himself had been through years of hell), when he was killed via a CarBomb by a crime lord he was preparing to testify against.

* In ''Film/TheGreatEscape'', Big X comments to one of his colleagues that he's never been happier than when he was at the Stallag working on escape plans. Less than a minute later, [[spoiler: he and all of the other recaptured prisoners present are murdered by the Gestapo]].

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->''"You know how in some {{R|olePlayingGames}}PGs you start off in your lovely idyllic green grass village where smiling neighbors bid you how-do-you-do that is virtually guaranteed]] to get Hiroshimafied before the second act?"''

* "Les gens heureux n'ont pas l'histoire." (Happy people don't make history.)

->''"You know how in some {{RPG}}s you start off in [[DoomedHometown your lovely idyllic green grass village]] where smiling neighbors bid you how-do-you-do that is [[DoomedHometown virtually guaranteed]] to get [[NukeEm Hiroshimafied]] before the second act?"''

%% One quote is sufficient. Please place additional entriest on the quotes tab.

* Happens in the first episode of ''Manga/DGrayMan'', a couple is literally split up in their day of their wedding, just when the women was thanking God for their happiness (and perharps KilledMidSentence). It's pretty much someone giving them the finger, and the now turned AntiHero blames {{God|IsEvil}}. The show is absolutely in love with this trope. You can pretty much expect that any character who is both a) happy with his life and b) not a main character is going to either die or have someone he loves die.

* You're a Vietnam vet with a good life with your lovely wife and adorable children. Then they all get murdered by a botched Mafia hit. So what do you do? Starting wearing a [[Comicbook/ThePunisher black shirt with a white skull]] printed on it, [[MoreDakka get as many guns as you can carry]], go [[AxCrazy completely nuts]] and [[KillEmAll kill everyone]] [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner you believe might]] be even [[DisproportionateRetribution vaguely criminal]]. Subverted in ''[[Comicbook/ThePunisherMAX Punisher Max]]''. Frank ''wasn't'' happy with his life since he discovered his inner BloodKnight in 'Nam and was dissatisfied with peace. Frank is haunted by the fact that he had asked his wife for a divorce right before she and their children were killed in the botched Mafia hit.

* In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', the narrator notes that while the Fellowship spends a while in Rivendell, there's nothing to report because they were too comfortable and content, then {{Lampshades}} the trope noting that isn't it interesting that when characters are suffering there are pages and pages of description, while when they're happy, it's boring and warrants only a sentence or two.

* [[spoiler: Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks]] in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. It only took 2 books for [[spoiler: Remus]] stop being an InsecureLoveInterest and let himself be happy. Damn this trope.

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* Creator/DanielleSteel often starts her book with an ad nauseam description of how perfect the protagonist's life is. Which is often a good sign that it's all going to fall apart very soon.

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