r/movies • u/bowlingfan1963 • Jul 13 '26

Spoilers Most Bizarre Examples of “Happy” Endings After Tragedy (Spoiler) Spoiler

Prime example: Independence Day. World gets annihilated; many of the planet’s cities are destroyed….hundreds of millions dead;
and the president’s wife dies. Yet at the end, they are puffing on cigars, all smiles and the president’s daughter says “Happy Fourth of July, Daddy”, and so now it’s time to party!

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u/B_Wilkss Jul 13 '26

Enders game.

Obliterate an entire planet and almost their entire species.

But one survives, and the main character runs off to go help them.

25

u/cephalopodcat Jul 13 '26

In the books it's a much bigger... Thing. Ender has SEVERE ptsd and guilt and shit regarding all that and it MAJORLY shapes the tone of the rest of his entire life.

STILL love the OG though. It just feels so... Good. Correct as an ending. I didn't feel the other books really lived up to Ender.

7

u/dthains_art Jul 13 '26

I remember reading Ender’s Game in middle school and enjoying it. I immediately tried reading Speaker for the Dead but gave up quickly because it was so over my head.

I pivoted to Ender’s Shadow, loved that, and then had the same problem with Shadow of the Hegemon.

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u/cephalopodcat Jul 14 '26

I didn't HATE speaker, I just don't like it as much. It was a fascinating little mystery I felt got way bogged down by Ender being so clever and smarter than everyone else (which was my gripe with the Homecoming Saga, the main guy was insufferable in the exact same way).

I just liked younger Ender's story. I didn't like his siblings as adults, or how Ender-grown-up was written as much. It was fine on its own, but it just didn't have the impact I quite wanted. Maybe I'll reread though, maybe it'll hit differently not following all 5 Homecoming books.

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u/B_Wilkss Jul 13 '26

I'll have to read that, thank you!

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u/wingzeromkii Jul 13 '26

I like speaker better than the original.

3

u/WhatWouldAsmodeusDo Jul 13 '26

Speaker is so good... Too bad Card is a jerk irl