Talk:Happy ending

what about the handjob one (hopefully) gets at the end of a massage?!

I tweaked the slang reference to put the sexual definition under 'handjob' instead of leaving it with the literary definition.

From the sitcom "mind of a married man" yes I agree this should be included as it is the first thing that came to my mind.

Proposed merge
I've proposed a merge with several other "ending" articles into one, Ending (literature)


 * I disagree with these proposals. Bad ending is a video game construct and so certainly shouldn't be merged here. DJ Clayworth (talk) 18:44, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Awesome, but...
I must say I like this article. But lets be honest here, it's an essay more than an article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spikeleefan (talk • contribs) 09:58, 22 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree. Needs some clean-up, and also some verifications, as it can be up to peoples own decisions as to whether an ending is happy or not TimothyJacobson (talk) 12:10, 8 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes. Some sections and references would help too. I can't follow the logic of the current organization of the "essay" and I'm too tired to try to figure it out right now. There are way too many examples; the lengthy Trudi Canavan discussion seems far less notable than some of the others, and it was pretty clearly written by a fanfic ... fanatic. Meh. -Phoenixrod (talk) 10:42, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Trudi Canavan
I've removed the following two paragraphs (in italics here) from the article because they seem to belong more in a forum for complaining about fanfic:

''Fantasy writer Trudi Canavan responded to fans shocked by her killing off a major character whom they had come to love and appreciate: "I was utterly sick of books where all the characters are alive and happily shacked up with a love interest by the end. Nobody died, or if they did, it was in some expected way that left you feeling warm and fuzzy about their 'sacrifice'. Death shouldn't leave you feeling warm and fuzzy. [The character] was a casualty of war. War is a cruel and random killer. It doesn't kill based on who deserves it more or less. And, hey, you're never going to forget that ending!"

''Several unreconciled Canavan fans went ahead with writing and posting on the Internet their own alternate endings, reversing the published tragic end and replacing it with a more conventional "happily ever after" ending. Canavan reacted: "Fan fiction has been around a long time and gives people much pleasure. I like the idea that people may be adding to what I've created. I can appreciate that some need to indulge in a little wish fulfillment. (...) [But] if you have changed the plot, you are writing a different story. If you have removed or changed aspects of the book because of your own prejudice or desire for cheesy romance, you've taken out some of the deeper meaning of my work. So do us both a favour and give your book, world and characters different names to mine." '' -Phoenixrod (talk) 19:10, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

A Happy Ending Literature is also known as a 'Sympathetic Circulatory' ending.
Sympathetic as it is a happy ending and circulatory as all of the plot circles are tied up neatly.

I also agree that there should be a disambiguation for the term happy ending in reference to massages. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Beatdizzy (talk • contribs) 13:17, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Other literature
Many works on classical themes will feature a deus ex machina to force a happy ending over an original tragedy. Examples are numerous but see Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (lib. Calzabigi) and Euripides' Alcestis. This is very significant to the topic (and was an operatic convention) but the article starts many centuries later. Also the stories of the sacrifice of Isaac and of Ariadne on Naxos are sometimes believed to be revisions of less happy originals. I'm too lazy and unable to contribute this but maybe take this as a suggestion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.169.195.207 (talk) 15:08, 17 October 2010 (UTC)