In the Pandora myth, Hope remained inside the jar after the other evils escaped.
Hesiod’s Works and Days says that Pandora lifted the lid and released the destructive conditions that afflict human life. The text then says that only Elpis remained inside, because Pandora replaced the lid before it could leave. Elpis is usually translated as “Hope,” although scholars discuss the precise implications of the Greek word.
The ending has generated different interpretations. Hope may be a consolation left for humanity, or it may be another force withheld from humans. Hesiod’s wording does not plainly explain whether its confinement is benevolent or harmful, so modern retellings often present it more positively than the original passage necessarily requires.
The story is also sometimes misremembered as saying that Hope escaped last. In the most familiar reading of Hesiod, it stayed inside the jar. That detail gives the myth its enduring tension: suffering spreads through the world, while hope remains associated with the sealed container.