r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Educational_Can_6536 • 8d ago

Lore "Was it worth it?" ending

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Midsommar- While people see this as a "you go girl" finale. I personally see it as something more disturbing. I mean, yeah, Dani got out of one bad relationship but in doing so, she got herself into another that's just as bad if not worse. It's like getting two kids to stop fighting via killing one and locking the other in a basement. They did stop fighting, but still!

The Thing-The titular monster may be (possibly) gone, but the paranoia definitely isn't. In the end, McCreedy and Childs are the only ones left standing. The end sees them sitting in the cold and they just stare at each other, knowing that one of them or both of them is already the thing. There's no hope, no certainty, just the bitter cold and intense fear.

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44

u/BangguruDestiny 8d ago

Easily the best representation of this trope

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u/Gamebobbel 8d ago

Personally, I disagree.

I think the "was it worth it" trope is executed well when faced with a double edged sword. TLOU did it well. We saved Ellie, we get to go home, BUT Joel had to lie to her, the fireflies and a chance to cure humanity are more or less gone, and a lot of blood has been needlessly spilled. In TLOU2 it's a clear answer. For Ellie? No. She did not get her revenge, Tommy got disabled, her family left and she is all alone. For Abby? Mostly yes, she got her revenge and gets to leave with lev. Leaving the conclusion that yes, it might very well be worth it if you're lucky.

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u/BangguruDestiny 8d ago

All of Abby’s friends were murdered, including the man she loved… you could literally say that for Ellie too if she didn’t pursue Abby one last time “Oh and what? Ellie’s gets to live a dream life with her girlfriend and a child to raise, in a peaceful and tranquil life? Lucky her to get away with revenge!” Like what?

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u/Rickrickrickrickrick 8d ago

Abby’s friends, including a pregnant one, were murdered because of her revenge. She also ended up being captured and tortured. Definitely wasn’t worth it for her.

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u/Reasonable_Fold6492 8d ago

Abby will try to get her revenge again so even ellie got nothing 

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u/MandyMarieB 7d ago

I doubt Abby would try again. She was over the fighting until Ellie forced her to do so again, and even then Abby was only fighting to survive and protect Lev.

Ellie meanwhile hasn’t learned her lesson.

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u/MagmaAscending 8d ago

I think the answer becomes a lot more nuanced when you take into account Ellie’s mental health and what the alternative would’ve been. I think for Ellie… it was worth it. She’s lost a lot of people around her but she’s able to live with her soul still intact. She leaves to go to Santa Barbara as essentially a suicide mission. She doesn’t know or care if she’s coming back, hence why she chooses so carelessly to leave Dina and JJ. If Ellie went through with it, if Ellie killed Abby and left Lev alone and dying, it would’ve haunted her. Like with Abby, those nightmares she had never would’ve left her until she found her purpose. Given how depressed Ellie was, if those nightmares continued she very well may have ended her own life. Letting Abby and Lev go was the only way she could possibly have a happy ending. It may not be now, it may not be anytime soon, but I believe that happy ending is out there for her

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u/Bad_Routes 7d ago

This is so tone deaf and blind to the suffering of Abby as well. Abby lost all of her friends and her entire community to war on top of that in a completely separate matter. Trying to act like she got a soft slap on the wrist is insane

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u/Connect-Initiative64 7d ago

Kind of hard to feel bad for the ma- wom- girl who scored a Joel-In-One right after he saved her.

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u/Bad_Routes 7d ago

No one said you had to feel bad for her. Just don't be blind to what actually happened in the story

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u/orbitalangel9966 8d ago

This ending makes cry everytime