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Celebrating the Heroes

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Gotta have those shinies!

For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children, robed in white, stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning...that all glory is fleeting.
Patton

This trope is about an event where a local populace holds a celebration to honor a hero (and his/her team if he/she has any) for his good deeds and triumphs. Frequently involves Fireworks of Victory.

Compare Awesome Moment of Crowning, And Mission Control Rejoiced, Tickertape Parade. Also compare Kneel Before Frodo, Standard Hero Reward and Think Nothing of It.

There would be too many examples from Real Life to list, so No Real Life Examples, Please!

Note: This is only for when the major heroic characters have a celebration held in their honor.


Examples:

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    Anime and Manga 
  • Almost at the end of each One Piece arc, the Straw Hat crew (and allies if they have any) will get celebrated by the locals for solving their major problem (usually by beating the Arc Villain).

    Comic Books 
  • Each episode of Asterix ends with the heroes receiving a feast to honour them.
  • Action Comics #1000 begins with a story by Dan Jurgens with the people of Metropolis honouring Superman in a public park.
  • Captain America: Home of the Brave by Mark Waid begins with the people of a small town honouring Captain America in largely the same way.
  • Fantastic Four (1961): Issue #12 has the US military giving the team an honorary parade after they fight off the Hulk.
  • The Incredible Hulk: Issue #300 is all about everyone thanking the Hulk for a recent act of heroism, with superpowered beings from all over the world showing up to praise him. He's even given a shiny statue. And then, since this is the Hulk, things take a turn for the worse — the statue ends up used as a blunt instrument.
  • Neil Gaiman's Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader? centers around a funeral celebrating the life of Batman.

    Films — Animated 
  • While Phoebus and Esmeralda get to hold hands, Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame gets carried on the shoulders of joyful Parisians, proud of the recluse of the bell towers who defeated the haywire Judge Frollo.
  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Christopher Robin mistakenly believes that Pooh saved Piglet from the flood, and throws him a Hero Party. Later, the 'one-hero party' is turned into a 'two-hero party' when Piglet gives his house to Owl.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • G.I. Joe: Retaliation ends with an awards ceremony honouring the surviving Joes for restoring the real President to the White House and destroying Cobra's Kill Sat.
  • A New Hope: In the final scene, Princess Leia presides over an awards ceremony where she presents Luke, Han and Chewbacca with medals for their efforts in destroying the Death Star.
  • Patton: At the very end the title character narrates a story about the Roman Empire version of this:
    For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children, robed in white, stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning... that all glory is fleeting.
  • Wonder Woman: A celebration at the end of World War I has posters up to honor the heroes who died in the war.

    Literature 
  • The Dreamside Road: At the end of the first arc, Enoa and Orson are honored at the Wintertide Festival’s closing ceremonies, before they fly off into the sunset.
  • The followers of Jesus from The Four Gospels hold a Passover feast, remembering how Moses heroically freed the Jewish people from slavery.
  • The Lord of the Rings:
    • The Hobbit: When the dwarves (and Bilbo) arrive in Lake-Town, Thorin announces himself as the grandson of the King under the Mountain. Remembering the legends of dwarven glory, the townspeople start a celebration of the dwarves' arrival in the expectation that they will destroy Smaug and bring wealth to Lake-Town.
    • The Return of the King: After Sauron is destroyed, Frodo and Sam are taken to the Field of Cormallen in Ithilien and receive great honors for defeating him.
  • Pamela Camel: At the end, after Pamela saves the express train, she is given the lead spot in the circus parade as the ringmaster praises her courage and intelligence the the crowd.
  • In Wet Magic, a group of human children rescues a mermaid from a carnival where she's being held captive. The mermaid turns out to be Princess Freia, whose mother, the mermaid queen, invites the children to the Merkingdom so she can throw a banquet in their honor.

    Live-Action TV 
  • The Flash: In "The Man Who Saved Central City", our hero is celebrated in 'The Flash Day' for helping to stop the singularity. The Mayor gives him the keys of the city.
  • Legend of the Seeker: In the second season premiere, Richard and his friends are celebrated big time by the kingdom for defeating Big Bad Darken Rahl. They all have fun until a new global threat appears.

    Podcasts 

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Module I12, Egg of the Phoenix, after the PC party retrieves the title artifact and brings it to the city of Northending, the town throws a festival celebrating the Egg's return and honoring the party members for their role in its recovery.

    Video Games 
  • The main campaign of Dragon Age: Inquisition ends this way. The Inquisitor and their companions return from the final battle to find that all of Skyhold has turned out for a massive party to celebrate them saving the world.
  • In the Light Side ending of Knights of the Old Republic, the entire Player Party is decorated with the highest Republican honors while the Republic troops cheer them on. In the Dark Side ending, meanwhile, the Player Character is hailed as the new Dark Lord of the Sith.
  • At the end of Pokémon X and Y's main story, the player character and their friends have a parade thrown in their honor and all receive medals.
  • Should you complete Street Fighter II as Ryu, then his ending opens up with an award ceremony meant to honor him. Turns out he had already wandered off without even accepting his trophy.
  • The end of Wild ARMs has the heroes of Filgaia return to Adlehyde to celebrate their victory over the demons. Both versions feature the trio marching down the main street of Adlehyde to the applause of appreciative crowds. However, the original shows them nearly being trampled by adoring fans, and the remake shows Jack winking at a nearby woman, causing her to faint.

    Webcomics 

    Western Animation 
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Subverted in "Avatar Day", when Aang and co. visit a town where people celebrates "Avatar Day", but it turns out to be an "avatar-hating day" because on that date their town's founder was killed by Avatar Kyoshi (who did it because said king was an evil conqueror who wants to wage war with the surrounding areas). Double subverted in the end where, after Aang and co. fend off a raid of Fire Nation troops on the town, they turn the Avatar Day into a sincere celebration.
  • Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers: "Out to Launch" concludes with a ticker tape parade for the three human space shuttle astronauts. In fact, these people were unconscious at the time the shuttle was landing; it was the Rescue Rangers that successfully brought the damaged craft back to Earth. The plucky critters ride on the limo's front bumper, effectively siphoning their accolades.
  • Danger Mouse and Penfold receive a ticker tape parade through New York City at the conclusion of "The Statue of Liberty Caper".
  • In the finale of Danny Phantom, "Phantom Planet", after spending the majority of the series as a Hero with Bad Publicity, Danny officially becomes a global hero after he saves the world from a humongous asteroid, with a statue of him being in every capital of the world.
  • Family Guy:
    • At the end of "Blind Ambition", Peter is given a medal for rescuing Horace from a fire in his bar, the scene itself being a spoof of the Star Wars scene above.
    • Brutally parodied in "Herpe the Love Sore"; when it turns out the three bullies making trouble for Peter, Quagmire and Joe throughout the episode are American soldiers about to leave for their third tour of duty, Mayor West declares a celebration in their honor.
  • Futurama: In "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", Fry and an orchestra put on a Hornucopia performance to celebrate Fry's crush, Leela.
  • Hong Kong Phooey: The opening titles starts right away with a ticker tape for the hero.
  • Justice League Unlimited: One episode follows The Flash's Rogues Gallery trying to kill him on the day of the opening of the Flash Museum.
  • Loonatics Unleashed: An award ceremony opens "The Comet Cometh", in which the mayor makes a public presentation to the six heroes. The ceremony is interrupted by a shower of small rocks, which portend the approach of a world-killer sized asteroid. Back to work, heroes.
  • Miraculous Ladybug: The season 2 finale takes place during Heroes' Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the Miraculous team and their accomplishments.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: The end of the two-part second season premiere "The Return of Harmony" features the Mane 6 getting rewarded in an almost shot-for-shot remake of the A New Hope scene above.
  • The Powerpuff Girls (1998): In "Cat-astrophe", the Mayor declares Powerpuff Girls Day.

 
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(Spoilers) Amphibia's New Life

Following the defeat of the Core and the departure of Anne and her friends, the final scene on Amphibia is a glimpse of what everyone's up to, and how things have changed.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (21 votes)

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Main / WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue

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