"This was a happy story. But... it could still be a whole lot happier..."
— Kubo, Kubo and the Two Strings
Sometimes victory just doesn't feel like victory. Good has defeated Evil, but no one is cheering just yet: most of the players would rather be alone with their thoughts, looking back on what they've just been through. Was It Really Worth It? Of course it was, but it did hurt, and it won't stop hurting any time soon.
Somewhere between Happily Ever After and a Downer Ending, the Bittersweet Ending is a happy ending with a dash of melancholy; the heroes, for whatever reason, cannot fully enjoy the fruits of their labours. The bad guys may have lost, but the good guys have suffered their losses too. Unlike a straight tragedy, things still end well, but the characters' struggles and sorrows are explicitly acknowledged and mourned; a bittersweet ending shows us the victory and its price tag.
Some examples of a bittersweet ending are:
- Did Not Get the Girl: When the Official Couple is broken up for the right reasons.
- When the hero fades into obscurity, gaining nothing after sacrificing everything.
- The Big Bad and/or The Dragon is defeated but not ultimately dealt with. If they pull a Villain: Exit, Stage Left, the heroes may also be left wondering how they managed it, and whether it means they have allies (or even associates higher up the chain). Either way, the heroes know that their victory is only temporary.
- End of an Age: When an irrevocable loss removes the innocence of the hero or the world forever.
- Bittersweet 17: Age seventeen as the end of childhood, with all associated loss, and the beginning of the long journey to adulthood.
- When the victory is only achieved through the sacrifice of people dear to the heroes (or perhaps was attempted to be won at this cost), and the heroes will forever wonder if there were another way.
- The Hero Dies for the victory. Even if they go peacefully and without regrets, their companions will be left to mourn them.
- When Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending, and everyone else is unhappy.
- When Only the Leads Get a Downer Ending, and everyone else is happy.
- The good guys feel unsatisfied and uneasy because they feel that they put on a poor showing and won by accident or dumb luck or realized that they unfairly misjudged a good personnote . Occasionally, this is when they are the intended recipient (as opposed to the usual deliverer) of An Aesop.
- Often the case in detective dramas where the mystery ends without the detective busting anyone. Instead, the crime has to be brought to them.
- The good guys accomplish what they set out to do, but at the price of compromising their integrity to win.
- Some endings include the normally Badass Pacifist hero lamenting to the effect that they had no choice but to use violence or take life in order to get the job done. Also occurs in many cases of Alas, Poor Villain.
- The protagonist or protagonists are the only ones left alive at the end. Even the likable guest or supporting characters get mercilessly killed.
- And occasionally, you will get a straight up Happily Ever After, but then the story will keep going, which leads to the inevitable conclusion of all the characters dying. Then Ghost Reunion Ending occurs. Similarly, in some endings, a singular character dies, but still sticks around as a ghost.
- Stories featuring a Restricted Rescue Operation often end like this.
- The heroes succeed in their goals, but one or part of the group is forcibly separated from their companions as a side-effect of their heroics, with the remaining cast never being able to see them again. Very common in settings involving main characters hailing from different worlds or eras. Bonus points if the separation is sudden, occurs off-screen, happens in the heat of the final conflict, and/or neither side is able to give the other a proper sendoff before parting.
- A story in which a character becomes injured, sick, or traumatized, and ends with them improving but not yet fully recovered.
- Some stories end with the protagonist(s) coping with the fact that there's a problem, rather than actually solving the problem.
- The hero or one of their allies has suffered Climactic Maiming — they've won, but they'll bear the cost of their victory for the rest of their life.
Bittersweet Endings can fall on either end of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism. They come up frequently in High Fantasy, for obvious reasons — an epic that ends with the hero triumphing over the ultimate Big Bad and bringing peace and prosperity to the land, but at the same time defeating the ultimate Big Bad does not always come without sacrifices, whether it be most or all of the characters dying in the end or the characters are at a loss about what to do now. Sometimes these are worlds and stories where you can Earn Your Happy Ending, though then it obviously wouldn't be this trope.
Also shows where too many romantic interests are introduced for one hero are doomed to end in this way or with No Romantic Resolution, since painless resolution is mostly impossible.
Sometimes the story's Aesop requires a bittersweet ending in order to be effective. For certain issues, this is the only way to get the point across without the effect being undermined by other tropes such as the "Everybody Laughs" Ending.
In short, if the characters are worse off than when they started, it's a Downer Ending. If they're better off (or at least status quo is preserved), but the work still ends on a melancholy note, it's a Bittersweet Ending. Another way to think of it is that if the story's main conflict is resolved in favor of the protagonists, but at great sacrifice, it's a Bittersweet Ending. A Downer Ending requires the heroes to fail, and the conflict resolving with nothing good happening in the end, if it's even resolved at all.
Prone to Meaningful Funerals, Wartime Weddings, and To Absent Friends, and having Babies Ever After and Someone to Remember Him By result in Dead Guy Junior.
Compare with Pyrrhic Victory, where the day is carried, but the cost of winning is crippling to the victors.
Compare and contrast with "Ray of Hope" Ending, where the villain prevails but not all is lost. Also with Allegedly Optimistic Ending, where the author clearly meant it to be joyful, beautiful, and uplifting… but the readers don't see it that way. May overlap with Tear Dryer or Last-Second Joke Problem if more emphasis is placed on the "sweet" part. It All Ends in Tears is often a perfect way to show a Bittersweet Ending, but some endings like this may be straight downers.
Contrast After-Adventure Restoration, where things list to the protagonist are restored in the end.
Note that as an ending trope, the following entries are riddled with unmarked spoilers.
Example subpages:
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Other examples:
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Asian Animation
- Flower Angel:
- At the end of Anan's story, Anan ends up causing a world reset along with a Stable Time Loop where all of her friends will eventually forget about her when she becomes the Goddess Angel.
- At the end of Xiaoai's arc, Xiaoai makes a Heroic Sacrifice that ends up having her turn into the power source of the World Tree sapling in order to save her teammates' home planet and erasing herself from existence with non of her teammates remembering her except for Eric maybe.
- Guardian Fairy Michel: The Black Hammers lost all the fairies they captured and the Tree of Life is saved but Michel dies in order to rejuvenate the tree, and Kim leaves the island. It's played as more happy than bitter, as Michel will be reborn later, Biam is with the fairies again, and Kim reflects on her experience fondly and feels that Michel will remember her when he does return.
- Happy Friends: The end of the "Legend of a Hero" arc in Season 7. Sure, they drove out the invaders, but at what cost? Kalo's life, for he was the one who sacrificed himself to save the planet. Needless to say, the heroes (especially Careful S.) are still in tears despite the enemy being driven away.
- Zentrix: Omnicronpsy is defeated, but Quantum is destroyed and Megan must return to her time along with the Zeus, leaving their friends behind who won't be able to see them for seven years.
Eastern European Animation
- Gypsy Tales: "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil" ends with the devil cursing Vunida to turn into a cherry tree, never being able to talk to her children again, and the children never realizing what happened to their mother. On the sweet side, she gets to feed her starving children with her fruit, who all grow up to adulthood; and as a bonus the children cook and eat the devil in bird form too.
- Heroes of Envell:
- Season 1 ends with the heroes trapping Mourgarth in the game as a player, with the laptop portal getting destroyed, denying him a chance of leaving through it. And just to avoid any risks of him re-conquering Envell, Phil uses Level Editor to give Mourgarth an Impossible Task, trapping him on a single spot. However, Val and Mrs. Norton both sacrifice themselves to defeat Mourgarth, while the heroes seemingly fail at unfreezing Mrs. Johnson and the game developers, one of their main goals throughout the season. The Stinger, however, reveals that other players, including Mrs. Johnson, are alive, but Buckwheat freezes them again to prevent them from deleting Envell, while subsequently keeping the truth from the heroes.
- Season 2 and the series as a whole end with the heroes finally stopping Mourgarth, but he ends up damaging the Center of the World, forcing the heroes to choose between restoring their world or Envell. In the end, they Take a Third Option and copy all of Envell’s NPCs on a Buckwheat figure, before rebuilding Envell as a normal game. Creep and Larsen also get Killed Off for Real when fighting Mourgarth, but the final shots leave the possibility of the former being Not Quite Dead, and the latter being potentially resurrected.
Music
- Babaloo: At the end of "I Lost My Pants at the Swimming Pool", the singer was seen naked by everyone at the pool, but he's still smiling, because his crush Mary Anne still likes him.
- "Graduation Trip" by Bowling for Soup has a heartbreaking yet oddly sweet story about first love, the singer detailing how he met and fell in love with a girl on a school trip.
Georgia girl meets Texas boy,
a place and time so far away.
Like Leonardo DiCaprio,
but our ship sank a different way.
A lifetime in four short days.
Said goodbye, and we never looked back.
A few letters always ended the same:
"I love you; did you know that?" - Demons & Wizards: "Fiddler on the Green"
: The two dead children who were meant to be each other's soul mates are united in a peaceful afterlife. They're still dead, though.
- Emilie Autumn's album Fight Like a Girl ends with the now-liberated asylum inmates realizing they have no idea how to function in the normal world.
- In Rob Cantor's "Shia LaBeouf" Live, after a brutal fight, you manage to kill Shia LaBeouf by beheading him, leaving the woods safer for everyone else. However, you're still stranded and it's nighttime, and you've been continuously losing blood from your leg since you gnawed it off, so it's likely you'll bleed out.
- "The Way" by Fastball tells the true story of an old couple on their way to a music festival. However, neither of them knows the way, and they eventually crash in a place so far from anyone else that they not only die, but nobody finds their bodies for weeks. Thankfully, the ending all but states outright that they are now in Heaven, where they can enjoy all the music they want for the rest of eternity.
- The Flight of the Conchords series ends with Bret, Jemaine, and Murray all being deported back to New Zealand, where Bret and Jemaine resume their old jobs as shepherds. Though they might never see Mel or Dave again, they're still able to make music without the added pressure of having to make money off of it.
- Haruka Shimotsuki's and Nao Hiyama's collaborative Tindharia world vocal albums, which tell stories about a fantasy world called Tindharia, all have such a ending:
- In Tindharia no Tane, the heroine Parsley ends up giving up her life to change the laws that rule the world, while main character, Salt, is left behind taking care for the world she left behind.
- In Griotte no Nemurihime one of the twins that serve as main characters to the story, Rosa, is absorbed into a song that makes her disappear forever. The story ends with the main characters throwing into the sea a crystal that contained her final song, which expressed her feelings for her sister, Citra.
- And finally, in Koboreru Suna no ARIA, which serves as a prequel to Griotte no Nemurihime, the heroine Seshiara is forced to sing for years in an attempt to restore the weakened sunlight, until the point in which she falls dead from exhaustion. Her husband Forgeit learns about this much later, and this causes him to become crazy and turn into the antagonist for Griotte. The finale of the album shows Forgeit dying as apparently, Seshiara's spirit comes to take him to the afterlife. Unfortunately, both were doomed by the canon...
- Jhariah: The Great Tale Of How I Ruined It All. The story follows a lone man in an apocalyptic world where everyone has been brainwashed by a cult. They destroy the city, but he retreats into a room for safety. As it goes on, he realizes that it was his own fault for not having stopped them earlier. By the final song, he's taken control as the leader of the cult and has them rebuild the town. The thing is, he's still guilty and feels like the same thing will happen over again.
In the lens through which some eyes will see
This tale is one of failure
And though I don’t think I’m your enemy
I’ll never be your savior
And in the lens through which some eyes will see
This tale is one of victory
And though I don’t think I’m a failure
I don’t deserve your sympathy - Despite not being program music, Havergal Brian's "Gothic" Symphony has a sort of Bittersweet Ending.
- "Big Bad John" by Jimmy Dean. The titular Big Guy saves the lives of 20 miners at the cost of his own, and a monument is erected in his honor.
- Ludo: "The Broken Bride" has the protagonist is reunited with his wife for one last day, but ultimately decides to die with her in the car crash, rather than live without her.
- Martina McBride's Concrete Angel definitely has a bittersweet ending (especially if you watch the music video). The poor abused girl ends up dying, but she flies up to a place where she's loved. The ending of the music video shows her little ghost self playing with a group of other children.
- The Mechanisms' Rock Operas albums end with things being pretty bleak, but not hopeless. Before everyone dies horribly, generally friendships are mended, lovers reunited, and so on — basically, the characters' love for each other and good qualities are shown to matter even though they're going to die two songs later.
- mewithoutYou:
- "Four Fires" acts as this to Rabbit's part of Ten Stories. Rabbit finally returns home only to find that his father has died while he was gone. Nonetheless, his mother is still there for him, and the song's final verse implies that there is no enmity between the two, and that Rabbit has come to terms with his loss.
- Ten Stories as a whole ends like this. Elephant is executed by a mob, but dies completely at peace. Rabbit is happy to be back home in spite of his father's death. Bear ends up sacrificing himself for Fox. Tiger and Peacock are recaptured by the circus, but even confined, they're able to bond with one another and recognize their own innate value.
- Vocaloid producer mothy's "Kept Waiting for a Response" might not be canon to the Story of Evil, but as one of the endings mothy originally had in mind and closely tied to what he eventually went with it certainly qualifies. Riliane fully regrets her actions, is redeemed and dies a happy death among the children she raised in an orphanage, but her twin Allen and many other people died because of her and in the end, she can't really get her one last wish- she wishes to have a response to a letter she sent years ago... but the letter was to the already dead Allen and she knows that, even as a boy gives her a fake reply and she smiles and thanks him.
- On Your Mark: The girl is set free, but the cops are probably not as lucky. If they return to the city, they will be reprimanded or arrested for their actions. If they stay above ground (assuming it's still heavily radiated), they will likely die a painful death. And even if the surface is clean, the two cops will likely have a hard time living away from civilization.
- Pepe Deluxé's Queen of the Wave ends with the destruction of Atlantis and the deaths of the protagonists along with the villain. This is only tempered by the fact that one Noah-figure and his family escaped the destruction: humanity will rebuild "and the future will sparkle again".
- By the end of Razia's Shadow, Adakias is dead and the future of the world is left unclear, such as whether Anhura has to stay with the Doctor, if she stays with Pallis, or if she actually helps to fix up the world, etc. Still, the two halves of the world are together again and will live in peace and harmony.
- Rhapsody of Fire:
- The story of the Emerald Sword Saga, as told on their first five albums. Akron and his army are defeated and peace is returning to Algalord, but the Nordic Warrior sacrificed his life to kill him, and the Emerald Sword is presumably lost forever.
- And again in the sequel, the Dark Secret Saga, though slightly happier: Dargor and his companions find the Seventh Black Book, they are winning the final battle with Nekron and his demonic army, but in the end Dargor has to sacrifice himself to transcend to godhood and battle Nekron for the rest of eternity to save the kingdom.
- Savatage's Rock Opera Dead Winter Dead ends on this note. The old man who played his cello in defiance of the civil war raging around him is killed by a stray mortar shell. The main characters find him dead and, despite being "enemies", decide to flee Sarajevo together and find a future anywhere else. The ancient gargoyle watching everything unfold sheds a tear as he finally understands the human condition. Meanwhile, outside of two people and a piece of living masonry, a civil war rages on without noticing the tiny drama of his death.
- In the Say Anything... song "Death for my Birthday" the narrator spends the entirety of his (wonderful) life praying for death and being miserable. When he finally gets what he wants, he has a moment of reflection before he dies and wishes he had more time to enjoy all of the things he had.
- "I Remember Me" by Silver Jews is about a man who is hit by a truck and falls into a coma from which isn't expected to wake up. He does wake up, but by this time his girlfriend has found someone else.
- Judge Smith's Rock Opera (or "songstory") Curly's Airships ends with Curly's description of the R101 crash and his existence as a ghost. However, the final moments imply that he's at peace now that he's told his story and can move on, along with the rest of those who died.
- In Steeleye Span’s Mackerel of the Sea (based on a Child Ballad), the narrator’s Wicked Stepmother, who has turned him into a loathsome worm and his sister Maisery into a mackerel, is forced to change the narrator back, and he becomes "the bravest knight that ever your eyes did see". However, his sister swims away from the shore, staying a mackerel, and is never seen again. It’s implied she only stayed close to the shore to comfort her brother.
- T-ara's Cry Cry and Lovey Dovey movie music. The protagonist, Jiyeon lost her father and unknowingly lives with the killer, a bounty hunter. When her love's toward him grows, she finally learn the truth for one of her father's goon, which ran away without even helping any further. The goon then takes her away from the bounty hunter and throws her on a street nowhere. She is forced to change her face, thanks to so many injuries and live with a girl who saved her life. When she finally meets the killer, he did not recognizes her, depressing her even more. He finally recognizes her, but died trying to save her from that goon. The goon did died. Sadden by this, Jiyeon commits suicide.
- The Taylor Swift song 'Tim Mcgraw': On one hand the narrator and her boyfriend spent an idyllic summer together. On the other hand, the boyfriend is now gone forever and the narrator only has a memory left.
- The Dream of Gerontius ends with the Angel dutifully delivering the Soul to Purgatory for cleansing. It's not as bad as Hell - there are other angels there whose sole duty, willingly undertaken, is to make the experience less unpleasant, and eventual release to eternal bliss is absolutely guaranteed - but Gerontius still has to be left behind as the Angel returns to his place in the courts of glory; and the song of the souls in Purgatory is, at best, resigned.
- The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Sure, the overall message of the album has been one of the damage caused by Sex Drugs And Rock N Roll and Ziggy's ego eventually gets him killed, but the final album cut "Rock and Roll Suicide" is, despite its name, an upper whose overall message is You Are Not Alone and not to give up hope in the face of obsolescence.
- The Gold Rush era folk-song "Sweet Betsy From Pike" tells the story of the titular woman and her boyfriend/husband Ike traveling to California. They survive numerous hardships, almost starve, fend off hostile Indians, they have a BLAM where the lady gets drunk and moons a crowd, and successfully arrive... only in the last verse to get a divorce. (Although many recordings of the song don't include this, ending simply with the arrival.)
- The song "Encoder" by Drum and Bass band Pendulum ends on this ultra cathartic note, complete with incredible instrumentation:
"For everything that could have beenWell, at least we took the rideThere's no relief in bitternessMay as well let it die"
- Gloryhammer: Three of the band's albums qualify.
- Space 1992 ends with the Hootsman sacrificing his life in order to destroy the earth and create the Galactic Terrorvortex, through which Zargothrax flees. However, the creation of the Terrorvortex means that Kor-Vilirath no longer has a means to escape the 18th Hell Dimension, and Angus McFife XIII is on the tail of the evildoer.
- Legends From Beyond The Galactic Terrorvortex ends with Zargothrax's death at Angus' hands. However, during the last battle Zargothrax stabs Angus with the same Knife of Evil he used to corrupt Sir Proletius, Grand Master of the Knights of Crail, and Angus chooses to walk into the fires of Sciehellion and die over becoming a tyrant just as evil as Zargothrax and even more powerful.
- Return to the Kingdom of Fife: A Deus ex Machina kills the two Zargothraxes and thus stops them from winning the Final Battle and conquering the past, but kills everyone else present at the same time, except for Angus McFife II, who is taken into space for new adventures.
- A particular favourite of The Megas.
- Get Equipped, their first album released, has Mega Man defeat Wily, but the experience leaves him as a Broken Ace, consumed with regret for his actions and barely able to keep going. It takes him most of History Repeating (Blue)/(Red) to get better.
- The double album History Repeating (Blue)/(Red) has Mega Man fight through his depression and become a wiser, more stable champion, now at peace with his life, and manage to defeat Wily and Gamma, save Light from Slowly Slipping Into Evil, and convince Proto Man to make a Heel–Face Turn in the process, by any standards an impressive string of wins. However, the final song, "Melody from the Past", isn't triumphant or glorious; it's a slow, downbeat number where Proto Man sadly reminisces on the family he no longer feels a part of and his regrets about his actions.
- As for individual songs, "Harder than Steel" has Hard Man die in the ring against Mega Man, but the people of his town still revere him, and his name lives on in their memories.
Steel of the champion! Your legend will live on! Our sons will sing your song! Harder than steel!
- Taylor Swift's "All Too Well": The narrator and her ex-lover are still broken up, and she's still mourning the lost relationship, but life goes on, and at least they still have memories of the good times—and the ex still hangs onto her old scarf, which she takes as a sign he does still care.
I'd like to be my old self again,
but I'm still trying to find it. - Voltaire:
- "The Beast of Pirate's Bay" is mostly a raucous Warning Song, telling the listener not to go near the Bay lest they run into the terrifying kraken that lives there. However, the final verse has the singer privately confess to the listener that the "beast" is actually a harmless, injured whale that got trapped in the Bay. The singer tried to help it escape, but, when that failed, he began to spread rumors of a ship-devouring monster scare people off to ensure the whale's safety. Sad, yes, but sweet in that he went to such trouble to help a defenseless animal, and from what we can tell, the scheme worked.
- "The Last Halloween Party" ends with the world being overrun by zombies and hostile Martians, and Manhattan in chaos. The final verse is still a massive heartwarming moment because the protagonist reconciles with his teenage daughter, apologizing for not being more understanding but swearing that he loves her no matter what, after having risked life and limb to brave the zombie horde and find her. The two of them share a father-daughter dance at the titular party, alongside some other ravers, who have holed up in a club to have a blast before they all die. As a nice little bonus, the last line notes that the Martians haven't killed everyone yet, suggesting there's hope humanity can win this thing after all.
- The Wall: Pink gets rid of the mental wall he put up that was utterly destroying him after he puts himself on trial, but that doesn't change what happened for the rest of the album. He's still suffering from issues about his past, his wife left him, he destroyed a hotel room, and (if we take his word at face value) he started a Neo-Nazi revolution in Britain. It doesn't help that "Outside the Wall" doesn't explain what happened to Pink after the wall came down, and the very last lines suggest that his descent into isolation and madness might happen again. In the film, a group of children can be seen picking up bricks in the street and running off with them, suggesting that they're starting to build their own walls.
- Current Joys' Kids ends like this
Oh I'm no longer a kid
And everything has changed
There's nothing in my heart
And lightning in my brainSo listen up you kids
And hear what I say
Don't listen to your brain
And follow your dreams
Podcasts
- Are You Afraid of the Dark Universe? has had this occur in several of their remake pitches.
- House of Dracula: Dracula has been turned human and all of his progeny are dead because of it, and Jenny and Carol have fallen in love over the course of the film. However, the entire team has been traumatized after losing Vail and Jekyll, Larry breaks up with Gwen because she wanted him to kill his vampire mom, and Jack is traumatized from his torture at Dudley's hands.
- Werewolves of London: Larry is forced to see his father die just after making amends with him, and he and Gwen are still wanted criminals. But he's come to accept his lycanthropy, has new friends (and relationships) in the Brixton Bloodhounds, and he and Gwen have reached a place of closure in their relationship.
- Dark Legion: The Mummy's Hand: The Dark Legion reunite and reassert their commitment to be friends with each other, not to mention they manage to save the world again. However this comes at the cost of Larry's sacrifice, thousands dead in Manaus, and the world of the supernatural irrevocably being exposed to humanity for better or worse.
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame becomes one when paired with it's partner film A Native American Werewolf in Paris. Gwen's entire family is dead at her hands, but she's able to witness Victor reunite with his son and is willing to accept the Legion as her extended family.
- The Invisible Man's Revenge ends with Jack and Marya realizing they've falling in love and becoming an official couple with each other, but in the background Carmilla is still very much at large and has suffered next to no losses in her quest to resurrect Ahmanet.
- Guest pitch Village of the Damned ends with Sophie finally free of her siblings' influence, but only because she killed them all herself, and still had to witness (and partake in) the torture they inflicted upon Midwich. Plus Dorothy, in her dying moments, taunts Sophie that her siblings will always be part of her mind.
- Guest pitch The Ghost and Mrs. Muir still ends with Lucy and Captain Gregg being Together in Death the way the original did, but is tinged with bitterness since everyone knows that they went to Hell upon death, and their being together is only a small recompense.
- Interstitial: Actual Play sees two pop up during the Door to Darkness one-shots.
- A Touch of Darkness: Shego defeats Kim Possible, kills Betty, leaves Fred to die, and makes Archie so angry that she's able to take control of his Darkness and allow him to be Norted. Archie leaves with the Organization, but shortly after an amnesiac Nobody made from Betty appears and is able to rouse Fred from the brink of death.
- Lonely Hearts: The defeat of the Sheriff at Bright Eyes' hands helps dissuade a good portion of the xenophobia they had prior, and the Killjoys remain in Twin Peaks to help continue the healing. However, Bright Eyes and Calumon are separated and alone because Calumon wiped himself from everyone's memory and chose not to restore himself to Bright Eyes.
- Episode 4 of Mystery Show, titled "Vanity Plate". Starlee finds the plate's owner and learns that it refers to September 11th, which is the woman's mother's birthday, an occasion that saved her from being in New York on 9/11. The plate is a tribute to her mother and to the friends that she lost.
- In episode 49 of Welcome to Night Vale, the citizens of Night Vale are free from StrexCorp and the Smiling God, and Intern Dana returns home and is elected mayor... but Carlos is still trapped in the Desert Otherworld.
Mythology & Religion
- The Bible from start to finish. Humanity gains knowledge, but loses Paradise. The Israelites are freed from slavery, but at the cost of thousands of Egyptian lives. Moses serves long and well as a prophet, but dies before reaching the Promised Land. The Jews build a magnificent temple, which is subsequently wrecked when the country is conquered... twice. Jesus preaches and wins many followers, but then he gets painfully executed. He comes back, but a month later goes back home (subverted with him promising to return someday). People start off happy, they sin, they get punished, they reconcile, they get redeemed, rinse and repeat, with the eventual death of nearly everyone (inevitably, since it all happened thousands of years ago).
- Norse Mythology: The Norse gods die in battle in Ragnarök, the warriors of Ásgarðr die to a man this time for good, and the conflict kills nearly every living thing in the world. However, two people manage to survive, the younger gods do survive, Baldur returns from the dead along with his wife and his brother, and another power arises to restore the world. And the Norse gods destroyed their opponents, the frost giants, fire giants, Loki, etc., they're all gone, thus ensuring that they won't be around to cause any problems this time.
- The Odyssey:
- Versions of Odysseus' story have an ending that verges on a full-on tragedy - Odysseus and Penelope get back together, he gets to see Telemachus - and then he will eventually have to take an oar to a people who have never heard of the sea in order to appease Poseidon. Cue another voyage for who knows how long, but he’s still fated to come back home, all in order to have a peaceful death at a ripe old age.
- Other versions have Odysseus' son by Circe, Telegonus, arrived on Ithaca, because his mother sent him to find Odysseus, but didn't know it was Ithaca. He and his men began raiding the island, and Odysseus and his son Telemachus went to stop them. In a struggle between the groups, Telegonus killed Odysseus with a stingray tipped spear. Eventually they figured out their mistake, and Telegonus brings Odysseus' body, Telemachus, and Penelope to Aeaea. On the island, after burying Odysseus' body, Circe made all four of them immortal, she married Telemachus, and Telegonus married Penelope. One retelling claims that Odysseus was revived instead, but he still ends up dying in some manner anyway.
- Various cultures have different myths on the origin of mosquitoes. They basically have the same basic plot where the hero(es) survive and the villain gets killed, but then after death, turns into mosquitoes.
Professional Wrestling
- A match seven years in the making (pretty much unheard of in wrestling) was "wrestled" at WWC Aniversario 2011, with the Universal Champion Carlito Caribbean Cool taking on the man he'd been teased as too scared to fight, Abyss, in a monster's ball. Carlito won, but was left lying prone after Abyss put him through a steel chair with a choke slam.
Roleplay
- In Cartesio, the characters, both living and dead, escape the simulated town, but they're all just clones of their original selves, and most of them no longer have their friends and family from home. However, most of them are determined to make a new life in this new world.
- Dino Attack RPG:
- Dr. Rex, Baron Typhonus, and the Mutant Dinos were finally defeated, but at the cost of the lives of Rex, General, Semick, and many others. However, a lot of emphasis is put on the "sweet" aspect of "bittersweet", such as it being said that their deaths should not be mourned but instead celebrated, to prevent this from sounding like a Downer Ending.
- The resolution of the Wallace Bishop side plot is that, despite cutting out the part of his brain that should contain his memories, Wallace still remembers his love for his family. Aww, so sweet, right? But don't forget that Wallace Bishop is still unfit for society and must remain in Napoleon XIV Mental Institution for the rest of his life. That's... rather bitter.
- Aside from the final post focused on Angel Eyes and Clint Wayne (who have bonded together to the point they are a ruthless duo in Gold City), many of Atton Rand's last posts deliberately tried to focus on the darker elements but as a compromise retained some degree of hope.
- Montoya goes home to his wife and promises a better life for his kids, but he could very easily come down with PTSD.
- Sarah Bishop manages to survive the war with her daughter and is reunited with her daughter's biological father, but she is riddled with guilt over her actions and consequently suffering from insomni. Her daughter meanwhile has a severe case of PTSD and a drug addiction, but now the family has a loving husband and father in Pierce who is very clearly determined to help them.
- Our Avatars Were in a Room Together: The Continuation: The bloody war with the Gears ends and Alpha, Karkat, Solaire and Jekyll/Hyde are returned to normal. However, Fen, still a Gear and facing some serious guilt for her actions, runs off deeper into the Guilty Gear world and is nowhere to be found. Aven, determined to find her, manages to strike a deal with one Rachel Alucard, who projects a personal portal to the Guilty Gear world into the room.
- We Are All Pokémon Trainers:
- The fates of some of the J-Team members that survived the Draconic Uprising in PMD-B match this. The PEFE Founders for instance end up dying of old age unable to change things back, but they do end up laying the seeds to create a timeline fork and manage to raise families of their own.
- The Fallout miniarc ends much like the original game, with the Super Mutants being defeated, but the Vault Dweller being cast out.
- Wolf-B ends up saving AU!DS' life through sending a message through the Adamant Orb... at the cost of his own life.
- The Orre arc ends with Cipher crushed (at least in Orre), but most of the Admins manage to escape justice (though not defeat), a lot of the J-Team members are left with issues, and Siren/Taylor ends up getting killed shortly after undergoing a Heel-Face Turn. On the other hand, Psyche does manage to conquer her own psychological issues.
- In We Are Our Avatars, there is the Witches Game arc; on the one hand, the trolls can't bother the main characters anymore, but on the other, Featherine can. Not to mention Victoria Grayson dies. Granted, she got better, but...
- Round 3 of Trust Fell provides an example of this. While the characters ultimately confront the mastermind, and work their way to the Golden Ending, everyone was still dead the whole time. Still, the "survivors" are hopeful they will meet each other again in a new life.
Sports
- Formula One:
- Michael Schumacher wins his third grand prix victory in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, of which is marred with tragedy due to the accidents of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna. The podium celebration was solemn in respect for Ratzenberger and Senna's deaths.
- Charles Leclerc wins his maiden victory for Ferrari at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix, in honor of his fallen friend Anthoine Hubert, who died in a fatal crash during the Formula 2 feature race of which also taking place at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons: This is likely the best ending the player characters can hope for in the apocalyptic scenarios presented in the Elder Evils sourcebook. The PCs may manage to defeat the beast and Save the World, but given how each Elder Evil comes with a Sign that causes global cataclysms, there may not be much of the world left at that point. (The book does say that they are meant to be used as finales for long-running campaigns.) For example, Atropus causes a worldwide zombie plague that causes undead to outnumber the living at worst, the Hulks of Zoretha cause a Hate Plague that causes mortal beings to become enraged and fight each other, and Father Lymic freezes the world with endless night, destroying crops and wildlife and making any recovery a difficult task. What's more, two of them, Pandorym and Zargon, are not truly defeated, and the PCs must do something else to ensure that later.
- Exalted. In second edition, the Sidereal Martial Art Obsidian Shards of Infinity Style actually has a charm that allows you to choose a bittersweet ending, forcing fate (i. e. the storyteller) to resolve the conflict in one of several different ways.
- Magic: The Gathering: A lot of storylines end like this:
- While the first Innistrad set had a happy ending, the Shadows over Innistrad certainly did not. While Emrakul is defeated, but the devastation wrought upon the plane is devastating; Its greatest protector is dead and will never return, its major population centers are devastated, its angellic protectors are fewer in number than they have ever been, and a host of new monsters have been added to its macabre menagerie. Not to mention that Emrakul was only defeated by her own volition, and could presumably return at any point. Finally, Sorin and Nahiri, two of Magic's strongest Big Good, hate each other so much that when Ravnica was threatened in a later set, they were too preoccupied trying to kill each other to care.
- Theros. Elspeth has succeeded in killing the cruel god Xenagos, and returns to Heliod's temple. Then spiteful Heliod stabs her in the back, declaring that her being a planeswalker (and thus knowing more of the multiverse than him) makes her a threat. Ajani is left cradling the dead hero, while Heliod gets away with no consequences.
- Promethean: The Created: You have spent years, perhaps centuries, as a reanimated collection of dead flesh. You've struggled to fulfill your Pilgrimage, created another of your kind, fought off the Pandorans, and fled from the hatred of humanity. Your reward? You lose all of the mighty powers you had, your durability and your strength. You are frail, weak, vulnerable. Your memories may very well evaporate. You still have to live in The World of Darkness, which is just as much of a Crapsack World as it sounds like, and now you have no defense against it. You are human. You have a soul. Your journey is complete.
- Vampire: The Masquerade:
- The game ends this way in the fourth Gehenna scenario, "Crucible of God". Basically, a Class 2 Apocalypse has taken place: civilization has been pulverized by the war between humans and vampires and the rise of the Antediluvians that followed; the environment has also suffered considerable damage- particularly during the Lasombra Antediluvian's reign of terror. The world is swarmed with bands of murderous psychopaths created during Malkav's reign, alongside giant ghoul animals bred by Absimiliard during his long stay in the depths of the Atlantic Sea and the hideous mutants crafted by Tzimisce Antediluvian. On the upside, Haqim turned the Middle East into an echo of Eden during the brief period in which he was alive, and during the end, Saulot might be able to call down the wrath of God on Tzimisce and bring an end to the Curse of Caine with your help, thus saving the world. In the epilogue, the surviving Antediluvians, namely Ennoia and the Shaper (who might be the Toreador Antediluvian in disguise) that managed to survive Gehenna and ascend into godhood are benevolent enough to leave humanity alone; and though you've lost your immortality and your powers, you're no longer troubled by the Beast or hunger for blood, and you can help rebuild human society with a clean slate.
- The second optional ending to the scenario is even worse: You remain as a vampire, because God has decided to keep Caine suffering a little longer, you've been transformed into a third-generation vampire, and given the option of creating a new Kindred society alongside the emerging human nations. It's obvious that the pattern of foundation a new Enoch, total domination of Man, their uprising, PC's entering torpor/going into hiding, and their childer, who will become the Methuselahs of a new age eventually scattering to the winds after ruling for so long, etc. will continue. It's almost as if no one, not even God itself, learned anything from what happened.
- Warhammer 40,000:
- The Battle for Macragge: Hive Fleet Behemoth was stopped...after said Horde of Alien Locusts consumed hundreds of world, killed billions of people, and completely wiped out Ultramarines 1st company (1/10 of their fighting force). First Companies tend to hold the veterans and elites of the Chapter. And it was just the first of many Hive Fleets...
- The battle between Hive Fleet Kraken and the Eldar of Craftworld Iyanden. The Craftworld survived and Kraken was destroyed, but by the end, four-fifths of the population were dead note , and Prince Yriel was bound to the dreaded Spear of Twilight.
- War Machine: Cygnar's campaign into The Protectorate Of Menoth ends on one for them. With the Protectorate launching a counter invasion. Cygnar survive but only barely, their capital and forces are devastated and they ultimately achieve nothing, while their enemies come out in a stronger position.
- Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Even the Time of Judgment scenarios that don't involve a Wyrm victory are still bittersweet.
- In a Last Battleground scenario in which the Perfect Metis is sacrificed as a scion to the Defiler Wyrm, the player characters must rescue his tormented spirit from the Atrocity Realm and cleanse it in the silver lake of Erebus. The Perfect Metis dies, but his soul is finally at peace. To boot, this cleansing averts the Apocalypse by forcing the Defiler to retreat into the Deep Umbra.
- In the Ragnarok scenario in which the Wyld is victor, the Weaver and Wyrm have been stopped, but the human race and the changing breeds have been completely annihilated, and Gaia will still take centuries to heal.
- In the Ragnarok scenario in which the Weaver is victor (and smart enough not to sever the physical world and Umbra), the human race survives, but majesty and creativity leave the world. A mundane, clockwork world is all that remains.
- In a Weaver Ascendant scenario in which both the Wyrm and Ananasa escape their respective prisons, the two restore the fabric of reality to balance. Ananasa reweaves the cosmos in such a way as to eliminate the changing breeds and reduce some of Gaia's majesty.
- In a Weaver Ascendant scenario in which the Garou's plan to free the original Balance-Wyrm succeeds, its struggles to free itself devastate reality and pile on top of the damage that the Waver already did. At the end, the changing breeds are all extinct, human civilization has been annihilated, and Gaia is still badly wounded. However, the Weaver and Wyrm are both restored to sanity, Gaia can begin healing, and the Stone Age survivors of the human species can begin a long climb to a more balanced civilization untainted by the Weaver and Wyrm's madness and guided by the lingering spirits of the Garou.
Webcomics
- Aisopos ends in a pretty complicated way, to say the least. Aesop is accused for the murder of a handful of people and he is sentenced to death by crossing. His friends can't do nothing, than stare and scream to let him go. The only one who actually tries and succeeds is Bri, through a mystic dance, where Aesop swips bodies with Rike's, Rike's with Yadmon's and Yadmon's with Aesop's. This results in Aesop surviving and to Yadmon to finally be killed. However, Bri also kills herself for the payback, Korki, Sallas, the Barbarian, Daross and Lenius never find out about this, thinking that their beloved friend is now dead, each one of them dies from old age and Aesop, in Rike's body, outlives them.
- In The Art of Monsters, Hui and Wu Huan are dead, but Wu Huan gets a nice job in the afterlife with a big, fancy hat. Hui is then reborn as a human, and the implication is that hopefully one day she'll be reunited with her master again.
- Blue Moon Blossom ends with the bunny's village restored and saved from the snake-demons, at the cost of the rabbit spirit's life. The bunny remains in their village, and their friends must return home.
- In Bob and George, this is comically invoked with Megaman reflecting on the loss of fighting the Yellow Demon when it's Not Quite Dead.
- Bonnie's Body: Martha puts a stop to Bonnie's cosmic rampage and saves the rest of the universe from being eaten. But the damage Bonnie has done to the milky way cannot be undone after she devoured all the planets in the solar system and a whole galaxy.
- Born To Be Alive: From Judy's perspective. Judy feels forced to kick Nick out of her life forever, destroying any hope of them ever becoming Amicable Exes (though they do manage to make peace in the sequel). However, while this took a great emotional toll on her, Shay is here to comfort her.
- Breakfast of the Gods: Lampshaded by King Vitaman in his speech to everyone. Many sacrifices have been made, including the deaths of several characters, but the evils that threatened Cerealia are gone and the land is now at peace.
- At the end of Brickworld Saga, both big bads have been defeated and all seems to be well, but then Scribe goes missing and the audience finds out that not only has big bad 01 survived yet again, but now he's possessing Scribe!
- The Class Menagerie: The comic concludes on a fairly mixed note, with the dorm breaking up as Kevin, Tony, Cindy, Lisa and Denise move to off-campus apartments, and Brad transfers back to Texas to confront his past once and for all. As Dani points out, this was inevitable, since she's older than the rest of the cast, and was going to graduate before them anyway, but Tony reassures her that the cast has certainly learned and grown from their adventures together.
- "Code Geass R2Remake": Schneizel is now seen as the evil foe for the world to unite against and is stopped by the combined forces of the Black Knights and Britannia. Euphemia has been vindicated for the Massacre with all blame being placed on Charles, V.V., and the Geass Order, clearing her name. C.C./Elizabeth dies in order to ensure the curse of the Code and Geass can never be used again. Lelouch, faking his death to the world, is sent into exile under a new alias cutting all ties to his friends and family, and has to live with the guilt and goes through a lot of self-loathing. Lelouch and Suzaku are never able to fully forgive themselves for what they have done. Nunnally is making the world better as Britannia’s new empress. Lelouch and Kallen start a family and Lelouch finally reciprocates his feelings with Kallen as they plan to have another child, with Lelouch finally being able to put the past behind him.
- Concession: All the main characters fail in everything they intended to accomplish, the only main character with a chance to redeem the others (Matt) turns into a psychic addict. Both vengeful ghosts are still at large. However, what Joel "intended to accomplish" involved mass murder as a ploy to get power; Artie managed to stop that and Matt did save him from becoming another Joel.
- This Croc Will Die In 100 Days: The croc saves a bird from being hit by a car again and gets to see the Cherry Blossoms, but gets hit himself in the process.
- Dana's Story is a one shot webcomic based on a real interview given by a woman fleeing persecution and war in Syria with her two young sons trying to reach her daughter who is in Vienna, Austria with Dana's sister. The story ends where the interview was taken, with Dana and her sons safe in a care centre in Serbia but still not reunited with her daughter.
- Darwin Carmichael is Going to Hell: Darwin sacrifices himself to prevent the Apocalypse but doing so balanced out his karma and allowed him to go to Heaven.
- In Deviant Universe, the Omega Rising arc ended with the heroes' victory at the cost of every named character being erased from space-time, some of them permanently.
- DICE: The Cube That Changes Everything: The webcomic ends with the Final Die scattered. The world is at peace, thanks to Dongtae fulfilling every Dicer's desire, but everyone other than Dongtae have lost their memories about it, so he returns to being an abused Bread Shuttle. But Jieun starts at his school as a teacher and Mio befriends him all over again.
- Drop-Out (2015) ends with the two leads still desperately depressed and with all the problems that sent them on their Suicide Pact road trip to begin with, but agreeing to live for each other's sake and make the effort to improve their lives.
"This is the exact opposite of over."
- Exploitation Now: Jordan confronts the agency that ruined her life and manages to destroy their headquarters, but Bush is unfortunately killed in the process.
- flOw: Everyone lives at the price of Irang's existence. Though he is brought back to existence thanks to the child of the phoenix, the ending left it ambiguous on whether the rest of the cast would remember about Irang and the future, or whether he still wields the white tiger or not.
- Forever After: With Robin sacrificing herself to stop Hook and reset the world of Forever After back to normal, the fates, who are impressed by Robin’s heroic act, send her back to the real world and reward her with good fortune, such as giving her a scholarship to a university. She even encounters her friends Tank, Lea, and even Damian in the real world. However, as stated by Tank, some of the stories were still erased by Hook’s actions, but Robin reassures her friends that she will apply for a class in Creative Writing and will become an author to rewrite those lost stories and restore their worlds.
- Girl In My Dream: Ji-Hoon is back in control of his body, has a loving and understanding family, and the friendship with Ji-Young remains solid. Yuna and Ji-Hyun are still around, but their appearances are becoming less frequent as Ji-Hoon's memories and sense of self get stronger, and it's implied that, in time, they'll eventually fade away. However, he is still stuck as a girl and he has lost Miya.
- Most storylines in Glorianna are this type. For instance, in "The Hall of the Mountain King", where Glorianna manages to rescue the castaways, but the King himself remains behind, knowing he will almost certainly die.
- Henchgirl ends with Coco dead, Tina's carrot army turned evil due to the serum with her kept prisoner by them and led by an evil carrot version of her, Crepe City under the control of the carrots (with apparently the president having given up on it if the writing on Sue's computer is to be believed), and Fred permanently losing his body after a building caved in on it. But Mary has been freed from the serum and apparently given up henching for good, Fred is at least still around as a spirit, most of their friends are now their allies in their La Résistance and vowing to make things right with Mary seemingly finally becoming a hero in her own right.
- And played utterly straight in the Extended Edition. On one hand, Tina's evil clone is stopped by Tina herself and she likewise saved Crepe City. Years down the line, Tina later goes on to become a superhero in the Fairness Federation. But Mary gives up the superhero life to become a security guard to a museum. She does manage to beat Monsieur Butterfly and his new gang when they try to take revenge, getting them thrown in jail and, even better, Fred gets a new body from Amelia thanks to a magical golem she acquires which now grants him invulnerability, giving him a shot at being a superhero. But as Mary watches, she figures she's gotten too old for him (as he never aged as a spirit while she did before possessing the new body) and just... waddles off back to work to get drunk.
- The Invitation ends with Annie unable to resist returning to The Master and her enthralled fiancé, figuring that she never had much of a life as an aspirant engineer woman in Victorian England, anyway. She ends her last will and testament with a plea for someone with a stronger will to stop her when she becomes a thrall of The Master. ...The final couple pages of Annie and Will getting married with The Master officiating are pretty cute, though.
- Karina's Last Days: Considering that this is a story about a girl dying of an uncurable disease. Karina and Milian are able to spend a couple more years together than expected, even getting married and having a child. Karina is also able to stick it to her family by becoming a famous artist without the Leopold name attached. However, she dies when her daughter is five years old, but her memory lives on through her art and in Milian and his daughter's hearts.
- Kill the Villainess: After her death, Eris has finally returned to her world in her body. She becomes a better person by quitting her job and standing up to her parents. But Eris feels like she missed Anakhin until it's revealed that Medea has sent Anakhin’s soul into a lookalike body in Eris’ world after he sacrifices his life in preventing Jason and Hubris from reviving Eris, so he is given a chance to reunite with Eris in her world and stay by her side. The side story reveals that Helena, after recovering from Eris’ stabbing, has become a great ruler and shows her disdain to Alecto.
- Lovebot: The 12,000 1919s have all been freed of the AI Limiter that's suppressed their emotions, and steps have been taken to integrate them into society and give them their own individual purposes. However, at least eight of them have decided to shut themselves down completely because of this overwhelming freedom, and it's implied that more of them will make that choice in the future. On the other hand, Astrobleme is finally in more responsible hands, Velix was able to survive thanks to Xada's prosthetics and get proper therapy, and Lacey is now in charge of his own life with a job he adores and two boyfriends he loves even more.
- Miss Guillotine:
- The main story ends on a more "Sweet" note. Everyone in the cast except for Sarah, Ivy, and Ara are dead. Callie's killed Terrie, but Callie pulls a Suicide by Cop by the magical girls of other cities come to stop her. The truth of Peace High is revealed, and all of the girls who were complicit in the bullying that went on are exposed and humiliated. However, Sarah's grown from the experience and is the new Revelator. There's a new magical girl, Bori, but she's avoiding the spotlight at Sarah's orders and works as an urban legend called "Magical Girl X."
- The extra story ends on a more "Bitter" note. Somi is exposed as a fake and a bully by Choa, thanks to Choa being temporarily empowered by Sarah with illusion abilities. Ara posts evidence proving Somi was never Magical Girl X, and the TV station is humiliated by the scandal. However, Somi's determined to claw her way back to fame for the sake of "her sense of justice" and is already getting noticed again. Bori herself is left somewhat disenchanted when she sees how the people who cheered Somi on as Prism Snow are happy that she's been exposed as a fraud.
- Never Mind the Gap ends with Mary, after being revealed as having been a robot all along, having her brain have to be formatted and restored from a backup, due to an accident. The reset wipes out her memories and personal development for the comic's entire run - which includes her relationship with Jim. But the final story comic suggests that Mary and Jim will start over and get back together eventually.
- NIMONA: Ballister and Goldenloin are reconciled and redeemed, the Institution is dismantled, and Blitzmeyer gets a fancy new lab with Ballister. However, Nimona's vengeful rampage killed many innocent people, she runs off after reassuring Ballister that she's alive, and there's only a slight possibility that she and Ballister will ever reunite.
- Nixvir: Ragnar is defeated and peace is restored to the multiverse. However, Erik and millions of other innocent people lost their lives at the hands of Ragnar, who feels stricken with remorse for everything he’s done. Despite all the atrocities he’s committed, Ragnar still gets what he wanted anyway: to become a god, but he does so alongside Erik, who is there to comfort him and reassure him that everything will be all right. Oriel gets to return to heaven, but is forever changed by her adventures (thankfully for the better) and it remains uncertain whether she and Erik will ever be reunited after the deification of the latter. As for the snowmen, they get outside help from the empires of the multiverse to help rebuild their broken civilisation, but it remains unknown whether any of them will have truly learned their lesson or whether they will end up returning to the same harshly theocratic system which oppressed their society in the first place.
- In No Rest for the Wicked's "A Modest Proposal" arc, killing the wicked witch does not bring back the dead children, the two rescued children know their father abandoned them, and even though they saved Claire, November wonders if she really did any good.
- Nuzlocke Comics invariably end like these, seeing as the protagonist would have lost many friends along the way unless it was a perfect run. No matter how happy the author might try to make the the ending be, it will always be permeated by the feeling of loss and loneliness, both by the reader and the characters.
- In Queen of Wands, Felix and Shannon have settled into having a family, Seamus is finally moving on permanently from his limbo dance with Elaine, Angela seems to be finally maturing, Kestrel has grown as a person and is starting a new job... but the job is in Boston, half a country away from all of her friends; Angela's actions have irreparably damaged their friendship; and Seamus is moving to California, on the other end of the country. Felix and Shannon get to stay where they are— but their closest friend and roommate who they've lived with for years is gone, and while we know she visits, she likely never comes back permanently.
- Rice Boy: The 'vaguely-defined' prophecy is fulfilled and Spatch is defeated. But T-O-E is stabbed by Golgo for the last time while trying to save Rice Boy. Rice Boy and Gerund return to Rice Boy's home and will get to live Happily Ever After, but both are deeply shaken by everything that's happened.
- Rimworld Tales: Tynan and the Huntsmen die, and while the Moths take some losses, they're ultimately not that worse off from how they were before. But the child survives, and both Tynan and Huntsman are satisfied with their deaths because of this.
- By its fans Roommates is infamous for its main Story Arcs having bittersweet endings. For example:
- Dark!Jareth arc: they defeated the villain (the Monster Roommate's Superpowered Evil Side) but he survived and will return sooner or later.
- Such Stuff...: They escaped the Lotus-Eater Machine, but one of them almost lost his soul, and the previous villain returned thanks to a new one (the Monster Roommate's mother. That's a messed up family), who also decided to stay.
- Kings War: War won. Villain defeated. They even managed to not end up in debt to a different one. But the Monster Roommate was seriously wounded, a little boy sacrificed himself, and they blatantly missed The Chessmaster manipulating from the background.
- The "That Which Redeems" Story Arc from Sluggy Freelance ends with the Demonic Invaders being successfully repelled and Torg returning home safely ... but Alt-Zoe died in the process, an event that haunted Torg for quite some time afterwards. In fact, for bittersweetness perfectly encapsulated, take a look at the very last strip of the story arc (not counting the Dimension of Pain epilogue).
- In Sailor Moon Cosmos Arc, Chibiusa finally ascends the throne and awakens as Neo Sailor Moon. However, she lost both her parents in the process: Usagi became Sailor Cosmos and ascended to godhood, and Mamoru abdicated to take Helios' place in Elysion, so he could be with her, which neither of them is even sure they want (as this Chibiusa hadn't even met Helios yet and only recently got the memories of her alternate time-traveling self).
- Sonichu Issue #10 ends on a rather implicitly bittersweet note - Chris, Sonichu and co. succeed in their rampage and get rid of most of their perceived thorns in their side. Simonla however is blown up and presumed dead (albeit not without leaving behind a daughter), and both Metal Sonichu and Count Graduon are still out there and unaccounted for...
- Springtrap and Deliah: The Light Ending. Springtrap finally manages to come clean to Deliah about his past, but she becomes afraid of him as a result and he decides to leave her house, heavily implying that he'll kill himself. Harry stops him and offers Springtrap to live with him and his family instead, which Springtrap reluctantly accepts. Harry also mentions that one of his relatives is a therapist, implying Springtrap will get the help he needs.
- When Winter Comes, So Does Karma: At the end of the main story, Rex's abusive mother dies a Karmic Death, and Rex himself is living a happy life with his owner. However, he got a shock from seeing his mother's body (albeit he didn't recognise it as his mother) and all his siblings are also dead.
- Wonderlab: Despite Taii's efforts to un-Distort them, Catt ends up turning back into a Distortion before escaping the facility alongside its Abnormalities. Beebi managed to escape the collapsed facility alongside various employees, but Rza and the other Department Heads weren't as lucky, having died while trying to fend off the rampaging Abnormalities. A few months later, Flower founds the Bloom Office, and Finn, Ella, and Taii (who had become a Fixer) all work within it. Taii doesn't allow Catt's re-Distortion to deter them, however, as they resolve to one day find Catt again and restore their humanity.
- Wooden Rose: It's a little more on the sweet side. Nessa is ultimately saved by Lillian's lullaby, which causes her to wake up and get away before Aidan can fully absorb her life, and he dies when his forest is set ablaze by his rage at her escape. Lillian's bonding with Eric during the whole ordeal leads to them becoming a couple, and the sisters' relationship also seems to be stronger. But Nessa still has lingering trauma from what happened, and she goes to the now burnt-down forest to visit the tree with the family crest that Aidan showed her, where she vows she won't forget it and leaves the handkerchief he gave her. The last panels show roses blooming from where she touched the crest, implying she still carries some of Aidan's magic inside her.
- The Warrior Returns: The first season ends with one of the heavily bitter variety. Seongjun finally achieves a permanent death, breaking the world free from the "Groundhog Day" Loop his powers have trapped the world in, but in the process, he had to orchestrate events that would result in the irreparable suffering of hundreds of millions. That is to say nothing of the fact that Minsu has become a new Demon Lord and now plans to destroy the entire world out of spite or the fact that many of the Old Guard are dead. However, Garam has undergone a Heel–Face Turn and empowered Jeongsu so that he can wield the weapons of the other Warriors, and there are still surviving old Warriors who are willing to fight to save the world.
- Webcomic Zodiac 2011: The Quetzalcoatlus storyline ends on this note. Yes, Specter has been defeated, but Whisper is dead, and Specter's victims, Jenna included, are permanently stuck as dinosaurs. The 'sweet' side is further enforced by Jenna still having powers and choosing to continue Whisper's legacy.
