Basic Trope: The Official Couple gets married and lives out the rest of their lives together at the end of the story.
- Straight: Alice and Bob have found the MacGuffin, defeated the villain, etc. and get married, and that's where the story ends.
- Exaggerated:
- Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending; everyone else (even if they were good guys) end up dead, in unhappy relationships, in mental asylums, and/or alone.
- Or, for a more idealistic outcome, each and every single one of the couples get a happy ending! From the Beta Couple, to the gay couple, all the way through the Mayfly–December Romance, the Boy Meets Ghoul, the High-School Sweethearts, the Lady and Knight and everything in between! All of them get to enjoy a mostly joyful and well deserved resolution to their romantic pursuits.
- Downplayed: Alice and Bob aren't married, but they do start dating. Or, if they're already in a relationship, they move in together and/or get engaged.
- Justified: Alice and Bob have fallen in love during the course of the series, as they faced their adventures together.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Bob are a happy couple from the start.
- Alice and Bob break up at the end of the story, whether for a good reason or a crummy one.
- Downer Ending
- Subverted:
- Word of God (or a sequel) states that Alice and Bob hit a rough patch, and possibly divorce.
- Alice and Bob have a Second-Act Breakup.
- Alice and Bob decide they are Better as Friends after they've spent the entire series in an on-again-off-again relationship.
- Alice and Bob have been playing Will They or Won't They?, but don't actually get together.
- Earn Your Happy Ending
- Maybe Ever After
- Alice and Bob are in a Destructive Romance or dancing The Masochism Tango.
- Not too long before the end of the story, Bob dies.
- Double Subverted:
- But they get back together.
- Alice and Bob are Friends with Benefits.
- Belated Happy Ending
- Hooked Up Afterwards
- Alice meets a Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest, and marries him instead.
- Parodied: After so much pain and sacrifices, Bob finally manages to resolve the story's big conflicts, so now he's free to enjoy the rest of his life with his one and only soulmate! Alice!... The incredibly gorgeous and courageous mannequin girl! The last scene is them Riding into the Sunset in a goofy golf-cart.
- Zig Zagged: Alice and Bob marry at the end of the series, then divorce a year later, then eventually marry each other again, and divorce, and remarry each other...
- Averted:
- The story is not over yet, so no romantic sub-plot can be truly resolved until it is.
- There is No Ending.
- No Hugging, No Kissing.
- The ending is a Downer Ending and/or Everybody's Dead, Dave.
- Enforced: "We want to end this on a positive note."
- Lampshaded: "...And Alice and Bob lived Happily Ever After. The End! ...Man, that's really cliched!"
- Invoked: Alice and Bob decide they are a perfect match for one another after all they've been through and decide to get married.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Alice and Bob decide that they aren't a suitable match (either before or after the wedding), or that they have issues to work on after all they've been through before they can be happy in a relationship, and call it off.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- May lead the audience to think that happy relationships just "happen" with no real effort once True Love's Kiss happens, or that one is "entitled" to a relationship with their crush interest for acts of heroism or simply being a "nice" person.
- Just because the Big Bad or The Empire is no longer around and things may be getting back to normal, not everything is perfect. Several characters may still hold grudges towards others over past actions, especially if they sided with the big bad, and The Hero may find themselves rather devoid of a purpose now that they're no longer required to fight against someone. And just because the current conflict may be resolved doesn't mean there likely won't be conflict in the future.
- Reconstructed: A few chapters are devoted to Alice and Bob actually facing realistic problems and issues, and working through them. Also, Alice is not a "prize" for Bob's heroism.
- Played For Laughs: Strangled by the Red String, Why Waste a Wedding?
- Played For Drama: Love Triangle.
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