Happy Ending

A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the protagonists, their sidekicks, and almost everyone except the villains.

In storylines where the protagonists are in physical danger, a happy ending would mainly consist in their surviving and successfully concluding their quest or mission; where there is no physical danger, a happy ending is often defined as lovers consummating their love despite various factors which may have thwarted it; and a considerable number of storylines combine both factors.

A Times review of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold strongly criticised John le Carré for failing to provide a happy ending, and gave unequivocal reasons why in the reviewer's opinion (shared by many others) such an ending is needed: "The hero must triumph over his enemies, as surely as Jack must kill the giant in the nursery tale. If the giant kills Jack, we have missed the whole point of the story."

A happy ending is epitomized in the standard fairy tale ending phrase, "happily ever after" or "and they lived happily ever after." (One Thousand and One Nights has the more restrained formula they lived happily until there came to them the One who Destroys all Happiness (i.e. Death)). Satisfactory happy endings are happy for the reader as well, in that the characters he or she sympathizes with are rewarded. However, some consider this as not an ending, but an open path for a possible sequel. For example, at the end of The Lion King, Simba defeats Scar, becomes king, marries and has a daughter, Kiara, thus giving way to The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.