What's your favorite type of ending?

[ratscout]

Hi all, I've been thinking about this a lot lately, but what's your favorite type of ending? I think 90% of people like happy endings, but I thought this would be a fun post to make

There's lots of different types of endings out there such as the cliffhanger and the surprise ending, so feel free to choose something other than the three I'm about to post.

Generally when I think of endings I think of:
The happy ending
The sad ending
And the bittersweet ending.

I, personally, have always been a fan of the bittersweet ending. Something about them just always feels so earned when compared with a completely happy ending in my opinion. It also usually feels a little truer to life in my opinion, too, since life can be fraught with sadness. There's something about a character who has to fight tooth and nail for a happy ending and even though they still don't get an entirely happy one, they still end up okay anyway that really speaks to me.

How about y'all? What ending do you like, and more importantly, why?

[PennieWagner]

Respond later...Note to self

[joannekwan]

I do like bittersweet endings, just that bit of hope at the end makes it ring a bit harder.
But if it's a story where characters go through a lot and I genuinely very much like and care for all of them, I love seeing them get happy endings.

[SleepingPoppy]

Happy!

But really, over all I just like an ending to feel complete, relevant, satisfying. It's okay if it's more of a mix- something sad, something bitter sweet, something truly happy. But when possible I want happy endings.

[A-weird-girler]

Well, I don't know, but DEFINITELY not tragic/ sad endings. That's literally the reason I made my main series to be about pursuing happiness and mental stability. I mean, don't get me wrong I like some tragedies such as Mademoiselle noir, but that's only because it was a song and not a long thing I had to read only for the main one to die. I don't know if that makes sense, but I just really don't like sad endings to things I've kept up with hoping it's gonna end well

[KoreanTacos]

I like a surprising and unexpected end, like the ending in Sausage Party

[vothnthorvaldson]

I may like any type of ending, although I'm not a fan of horribly sad endings if the rest of the story is pretty uplifting. It's too brutally depressing.
Otherwise anything will do.

My favorites are pretty much opposites, but not in the sad/happy opposition:

• Neutral and calm endings, often presented as epilogues; very difficult to make them be meaningful and necessary, but when it's done right it can really give a satisfactory feeling of completion;

• Abrupt, unexpected endings. I particularly like these when there is a dose of surrealism involved. Completely opposite feeling (satisfactory startlement? )

[Rasp]

I tend to lean on a mixed ending as well something abrupt can work but you need to be VERY careful its still satisfying unless you're trying to make a point.

[fattackycats]

I'm a fan of cliffhangers when done right, and only when there's going to be a next season or whatever. I don't like for all the answers to be answered, because I like to speculate, but I want answers to most questions.

I also prefer bittersweet endings to happy endings. Happy is too cliche. Something must be gained and lost.

When it comes to bad endings or sad, I hate when they are used in horror stories. I'm sooo sick of everyone dying in the end. I would prefer happy endings or bittersweet endings to horror.

[Kann]

Most of time I prefer happy endings or at least bittersweet ones because real life has enough of "sad endings". I don't mean I hate them. Sometimes they make most sense to a story, but I'd rather cry tears of happiness than sadness. xD

[Lady_DarkStar]

Satisfying endings. The kind you want to jump up and shout YES! to. Here is an example of the best one of those I have come across in ages, it's short, but oh so satisfying. "Darcy's last day of work" is the story.

Stories From The Bad Place | Tapas

[MariMontoya]

It has to be a COMPLETE ending, whether sad, happy, bittersweet (I like happy and bittersweet mostly) I need to leave the story feeling satisfied that regardless of what happened there's nothing more to add to it and it's complete.

[punkarsenic]

i like sad endings! soul crushing! i think its part of where im at rn, pretty pessimistic abt the world and feeling fairly helpless, so i prefer sad and bittersweet endings. i like the kinda endings where the goal is reached or almost reached, but theres a massive sacrifice involved. kill the protagonist! do it!

[Greetings]

Regardless of if it's happy or sad, I like unpredictable endings.

[ForLackOfStars]

I love bittersweet endings. To me, they feel a lot more true to real life, where nothing ever wraps up perfectly. Plus, there's something about them which makes them stick in my head for a really long time. It's like my brain can't figure out how to categorize them, or I keep looking for a way everything could have been perfect.

[DiegoPalacios]

my favourite type of ending is a fitting ending. One that goes well with the story and it`s message. (if it has a message)

For more lighthearted stories i usually expect happy endings, but for darker ones i think a sad one or a bittersweet one can fit better.

If the actions of the characters lead to that outcome,the ending makes sense. Personally i`m not a big fan of a "Deus/Diavolus ex Machina" (unless it is a parody).

[silverraven0]

You forget about open and closed ending. Especially the open ending. That kind of story will make me mad because there's no conclusion but it will also make me thinking deep for the rest of the day. :>

But if we're talking about general ending, I preferred happy, but bitter sweet is okay too, thought I might be heartbroken enough to cry like hell and I also don't mind sad ending because my response will be the same as the bittersweet one, just more severe lol. But it is depend if I already established a thinking if this story will ended up having it or not, but I rather don't have sad ending.

In conclusion I'm fine with everything but preferred happy ending the most.

[Penni]

I think I'm varied. Usually, I prefer happy endings, but sometimes if a bad ending happens I'm just like "Yeah, that's how it had to be"

And @silverraven0 made a good point. I hate open endings, it tears me up

[amortelito]

When I was a kid I loved dark tragic endings, bittersweet ends etc. Now that I'm an adult and see that fear, despair and tragedy are real...I 100% prefer happy endings. I don't know lately I'm too sad to handle tragedy.
BTW elders and pets dying at the end area big NO for me, it hits too close to me, I can't enjoy it.

[TheFalseVyper]

I may sound really fickle saying this, but the ending of a story pretty much dictates my whole opinion on a story. Sad endings drive me up the wall! If I fall in love with these characters, and they bust their ass off getting to this conclusion, then they better get some semblance of happiness in the end.

Bittersweet endings are tolerable so long as it's not an ending where the heroes have to sacrifice their own power, or die, then it's a no go for me.

That being said, I can't stand super happy endings. You know the ones where everyone gets together, and they get married, and have kids, and get a house and blah, blah, blaaaah. It's too neatly put together for me to find believable.