Comments on Profile Post by Elfie

It happening twice isn’t a lot but it does say something, I think.

It's not a *bad* way to end a story. Granted that every now and then, an alt-ending could also be happy.

Good ending: an infinite number of people lived perfect, blissful lives for all eternity.
Bad ending: death, torture, agony, more death, more torture.

Don't forget the other options, such as but not limited to...
Bad ending: Everyone is perfectly happy as slaves of the evil overlord. War, diseases, poverty no longer exist, but neither does free will.
Good ending: The villain has been defeated but this does not magically fix the damage they caused and there will be a lot of rebuilding and healing to be done.

In gaming, the 'true ending' is often the one that requires a little extra work, the one that keeps the story going with the player having to move towards the goal of a 'happy ending', the one most players seek to get.

A bad ending, however, is often caused by taking the 'easy way out' by ignoring vital points or submitting to the 'villan' whether metaphorically by simply not respawing, or literally submitting to the bad guy, usually literal in the case of erorica ;)

Then there's hidden joke endings. Those are fun.

You act like the characters' backstories aren't ALSO filled with a series of unfortunate events