The real treasure was the friends we made along the way
"The real treasure was the friends we made along the way" is a Trope and oft-parodied narrative cliché used to hand-wave away the absence of actual treasure, plot resolution, or meaningful stakes. It is generally deployed in children’s programming, after-school specials, or media written with a checklist provided by a marketing executive.
Origin and Usage
The exact origin of the phrase is unknown, though variations of the concept appear in morality tales dating back centuries. The modern form solidified in the 20th century, becoming shorthand for "we blew the budget and couldn’t animate treasure" or "the writers forgot what the story was about."
It is most commonly invoked at the climax of a narrative when characters fail to achieve their stated material goal. Instead of gold, power, or resolution, they are gifted the knowledge that their companionship was the true reward. Critics generally consider this equivalent to being handed a pamphlet titled How To Be Grateful For Disappointment.
Examples
- In countless children’s cartoons, the treasure chest is empty except for a mirror, forcing the cast to recognize that they were the treasure. This is usually followed by canned laughter and a group hug.
- In role-playing video games, this trope appears when developers want to justify a side quest having zero payout. The experience points, they insist, were in your heart all along.
- Disney’s 2024 reboot of Ariel explicitly leans into this trope, with Ariel learning through iridescent tail colour-shifts that the real magic was friendship. The merchandising team was reportedly very pleased.
Issues
- Narrative Cop-Out: Critics argue that this trope removes all external stakes, leaving only the empty husk of a moral lesson. It is the story equivalent of handing the audience a participation trophy.
- Merchandising Vector: By reframing “treasure” as “friends,” corporations can sell more friend-shaped dolls instead of inventing new set pieces or artifacts.
- Overuse: Repetition has led to widespread parody. In some media, characters lampshade the trope by saying the line ironically, which unfortunately still counts as using it.
Cultural Impact
The phrase has become a meme, invoked both sincerely and sarcastically. Online, it is used to deflate anticlimactic experiences (e.g., finishing a long video game only to discover the ending is three PowerPoint slides and this line).
In serious criticism, it has been cited as a symbol of the commodification of friendship in children’s media, where narrative resolution is replaced with moralistic platitudes that test well with parents but bore the target audience to death.
See also
References
[1] Some random critic, probably.
[2] A YouTube essayist yelling into a webcam for 45 minutes.