History Main / TropicalEpilogue

* In ''Literature/TheMermaid'', Amelia, who can transform between a human woman into a mermaid, is hired by P.T. Barnum as an attraction. She marries Barnum's associate, Levi Lyman, and becomes pregnant with his child. Levi and Amelia plan to start a new life in Rarotonga after Amelia's contract is up, but when Amelia is almost killed in Charleston by an angry mob, the two agree that it isn't safe for her to live in America any longer. Amelia runs into the ocean and swims away. Four years later, Levi finally makes it to Rarotonga, where he finds Amelia living in a hut on the beach with their daughter Charity.

* In ''Literature/TheMermaid'', Amelia, who can transform between a human woman in a mermaid, is hired by P.T. Barnum as an attraction. She marries Barnum's associate, Levi Lyman, and becomes pregnant with his child. Levi and Amelia plan to start a new life in Rarotonga after Amelia's contract is up, but when Amelia is almost killed in Charleston by an angry mob, the two agree that it isn't safe for her to live in America any longer. Amelia runs into the ocean and swims away. Four years later, Levi finally makes it to Rarotonga, where he finds Amelia living in a hut on the beach with their daughter Charity.

%%* The ending of Creator/BenElton's novel ''High Society''.
* The main villain (and the titular character) and his love interest of Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy's ''The Garin's Death Ray'' enjoy a nonvoluntary version, having been shipwrecked in the end of the novel on an uninhabited tropical island.

The final shot of a story is a character relaxing on a sun lounger with a fruity umbrella drink, looking [[HappyEnding pleased with themself]]. Most likely wearing a colorful [[HawaiianShirtedTourist Hawaiian shirt]] amid a sea of HulaAndLuaus. Neither of which is to say this is [[HollywoodGeography actually supposed to be Hawaii]] (which would be a ''really stupid'' place for an American to [[RunForTheBorder flee to...]]) -- it's more likely to be somewhere in LatinLand, the Caribbean or [[TropicalIslandAdventure Oceania in general]]. British media has its own variation, usually involving the Costa del Sol, a famed retreat of British gangsters, or even Blackpool, where many Scottish gangsters avoided heat. Some works will substitute Southeast Asia.

This can serve as a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue for a KarmaHoudini villain, in which case a triumphant EvilLaugh is rather likely. It's also commonly {{Invoked|Trope}}, or {{Discussed|Trope}} by characters who never ultimately manage to fulfill it (having clearly [[GenreBlindness never heard]] of {{Retirony}}, OneLastJob or the UnspokenPlanGuarantee).

* Gene Hackman's character does this at the end of ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'', broadcasting a hilarious video message to Will Smith's television.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan''
** In one story, Mysterio's ultimate goal when he takes over the Maggia is to grab as much money as he can, and "buy an island in the tropics where I can sit under palm trees and drink things out of coconuts". At the end of the story, Mysterio is taking a sunbath wearing a colorful [[HawaiianShirtedTourist Hawaiian shirt]] under the palm trees... [[SubvertedTrope of an enormous sign at his department roof]], thinking about how much he hates Spider-Man.
** In another, the epilogue is [[EpilogueLetter in the form of a letter]] sent by [[DatingCatwoman Black Cat]] from the safety of such a refuge.
** After the first battle between the original Hobgoblin and the original Green Goblin, we get an epilogue where Hobby is sitting on a tropical island with no extradition treaties, sipping a cocktail and happy to retire on what's left of his original fortune. Given that at the start of the story he'd been outed and in jail, and [[ComicBook/SpiderGirl any time]] [[Creator/DanSlott he's returned]] it's been used to show that he's a MagnificentBastard.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''
** The storyline ''Heart of Hush'' ends on this note. Comicbook/{{Catwoman}} is relaxing at a resort while recovering from getting her heart ripped out, recording a message for Hush explaining how she got her revenge.

* ''Comicbook/TheSandman'': The "Season of Mists" storyline ends with Lucifer, who has resigned his job and closed up Hell, sunning himself on an Australian beach. He even admits that God's sunsets are pretty nice.
* ''Comicbook/TheLosers'': The surviving Losers are somewhere with palm trees, apparently off of the agency's radar. When Stegler tries to recruit them for a new unit to fix the company's mistakes, [[spoiler: Jensen]] declines him quite decisively in a splash page.

* Played with in the ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' story "Show 'Em All": The Junkman, having pulled off the perfect crime, gets his tropical epilogue before the story is more than two-thirds over. Then he realizes that the problem with pulling off a crime so perfect that nobody knows who did it is that ''nobody knows who did it'' (which is a problem because he became a supervillain in the first place to make a point about what people like him are capable of), and goes back to have another go.

* A one-shot comic book with Sandman, Vulture, Juggernaut (while he was still in the X-Men), Sabertooth, and a few others had them forced to work for a mysterious criminal mastermind who supposedly controlled New York's crime (as opposed to the Kingpin). Sandman refused to believe the guy was for real and was promptly disintegrated for his arrogance. It was eventually revealed that [[spoiler: SHIELD was actually running the op in order to destroy a file linking SHIELD to criminal activity]]. Then the end panel showed Sandman on a beach next to a mysterious shadowy figure with a Hawaiian shirt and clawed feet, who thanked Sandman for taking a dive to preserve his reputation.

'''As this is an ending trope, spoilers will be unmarked below!'''

* The epilogue of VisualNovel/HeartOfTheWoods is one, with the girls enjoying a warm summer vacation back in America.

* The main villian (and the titular character) and his love interest of Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy's ''The Garin's Death Ray'' enjoy a nonvoluntary version, having been shipwrecked in the end of the novel on an uninhabited tropical island.

The final shot of a story is a character relaxing on a sun lounger with a fruity umbrella drink, looking [[HappyEnding pleased with themself]] on a sun lounger. Most likely wearing a colorful [[HawaiianShirtedTourist Hawaiian shirt]] amid a sea of HulaAndLuaus. Neither of which is to say this is [[HollywoodGeography actually supposed to be Hawaii]] (which would be a ''really stupid'' place for an American to [[RunForTheBorder flee to...]]) -- it's more likely to be somewhere in LatinLand, the Caribbean or [[TropicalIslandAdventure Oceania in general]]. British media has its own variation, usually involving the Costa del Sol, a famed retreat of British gangsters, or even Blackpool, where many Scottish gangsters avoided heat. Some works will substitute Southeast Asia.

* Hillary Briss in ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen''.

* The ending of ''Film/{{Bullseye}}'' (1990) with Michael Caine talking with someone on the phone, telling her that she can't have her money back; she has already spent it.

The final shot of a story is a character relaxing on a sun lounger with a fruity umbrella drink, looking [[HappyEnding pleased with themself]] on a sun lounger. Most likely wearing a colorful [[HawaiianShirtedTourist Hawaiian shirt]] amid a sea of HulaAndLuaus. Neither of which is to say this is [[HollywoodGeography actually supposed to be Hawaii]] (which would be a ''really stupid'' place for an American to [[RunForTheBorder flee to...]]) -- it's more likely to be somewhere in LatinLand, the [[WelcomeToTheCaribbeanMon Caribbean]] or [[TropicalIslandAdventure Oceania in general]]. British media has its own variation, usually involving the Costa del Sol, a famed retreat of British gangsters, or even Blackpool, where many Scottish gangsters avoided heat. More modern works will substitute [[HolidayInCambodia Southeast]] [[EastIndies Asia]].

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'', Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood move to Guam after Mr. Wormwood's [[HonestJohnsDealership car dealership]] is under investigation for fraud, and their daughter is legally adopted by [[PsychologistTeacher Ms. Honey.]]

* The main villian (and the titular character) and his love interest of Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy's ''The Garin's Death Ray'' enjoy a nonvoluntary version, having been shipwrecked in the end of the novel on a tropical island.

* Episode 246 of the ''[[Podcast/ComedyDeathRayRadio Comedy Bang Bang Podcast]]'' had Creator/BobOdenkirk jokingly saying that this was how ''Series/BreakingBad'' would end.

* The ending of Creator/BenElton's novel ''High Society''.

* In ''Videogame/MaxPayne 3'', the last scene is one of Max, having both successfully kicked his alcoholism and brought down Victor Branco's conspiracy, drinking a soda and watching a CoincidentalBroadcast about Victor's death at a beach in Bahia, at peace with himself for the first time in a long time.

** ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'': The trope turns up as the bad ending; Crash and Coco sit on a beach with one of the [[{{Mooks}} crabs]] from the first game, and discuss what happened to the [[KillSat Cortex Vortex]]. The good ending, which is unlocked via HundredPercentCompletion, has them and N. Brio destroy the Cortex, but the weapon they use for that is in the jungle instead.