Imagine a story that involves a male protagonist. They had a plot that was simple: defeat the dragon, and save the kingdom.
And so, they go on this massive, large adventure, only to discover this beautiful princess in a castle. She had been imprisoned by the locals of the village for crimes unknown to the reader and protagonist.
The male knight falls in love with her and frees her. Together they spend the remainder of the story falling more and more in love with each other, only to come and realize that the princess was the dragon destroying the protagonist’s kingdom.
She transforms horribly into a dragon against her will, and the knight is forced to kill her. He saves the kingdom, but he’s now a depressed recluse, and can never truly accept his victory, and this leaves readers and viewers feeling like the protag just wasted his time, and that the entire love scene was pointless bloat.
That’s the Johnny Boy Failed Trope.
This overused and out-of-date trope features a protagonist who loves a supporting character, only for the love to end in vain; it’s a depressing way to write a plot, and leaves no fruit at the end.
I call this bad trope this, because it takes up after the last Valentine’s Day episode of Johnny Bravo, where after getting rejection after rejection, finally meets a love interest that loves him back, but they wind up never being able to be together, because she’s in the “FBI” so after spending the entire day together, she wipes his memory of them ever being together.
Stupid, isn’t it? Why can’t they just be together, dammit? Exactly. That’s the problem with this form of storytelling. Now imagine if we did this for 4 seasons, built a core audience, and then disrespected them with this unsatisfying ending that makes people feel sad.
This is why we should never use it.
Many well-known stories have used this trope; Samurai Jack, Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Laboratory, even the Teen Titans and the anime Tenchi Muyo, Futurama—the list goes on
…And it all ends the same; make a perfect lover, rip her from his arms.
These flawed stories are usually written by writers who, for some unknown reason, may feel some type of way about their personal relationships. Maybe they never experienced true love, or maybe they’re some 40-year-old virgin, I dunno, and they use this plot as a moral to push a personal agenda or wage a sexist vendetta against relationships that seem too good to be true and force it to be so in the story.
The reason, why this doesn’t work, is because as discussed, this leaves a bitter resolution that fails to captivate or solve the problem presented. It also makes people sad, and as we all know, people blot out sad stories from their minds. No doubt 10 years later, people will be more likely to remember Sleeping Beauty in Disney’s golden age, than the ending to Samurai Jack; because fans will be happier to tell that story than tell their kids about the one that just sucks.
It’s ok to let your male and female protagonists score and let them find true love. Don’t be ashamed to let them get it easy and allow the story’s resolution to involve one where both win in the end, and there is no sorrow.
Go on, and let the knight be able to cure the dragon-princess with a magical potion, and turn her back to his dotting lover. Or let that wandering samurai get the girl in the end—Go on, let Johnny Bravo get to marry his FBI lover already. This will let fans breathe easy, offer a TRUE resolution to the conflict, and allow the story to actually end, instead of leaving things feeling pointless and half-finished.
Take it from your O’l Uncle here,
you don’t want to end things on a sour note with your novel, unless you plan on ending it on a good note in the end, otherwise you’re gunna have a bunch of angry disgruntle fans, and a lot of people second-guessing reading any more of your works, for fear of it containing the sad ending.
-Sincerely, Everybody’s Favorite Uncle, Gregory Thomas
Cascadia Legends and Poetry 