The ending

I’ve recently finished watching a reboot of a beloved show to many.

I didn’t care for the show’s finale. I think I would have been much more content with the original show’s conclusion while holding hope for the characters’ futures, rather than a stitched together finish, barely held up by holes in the plot, forced characters and ideals that have become outdated.

The same can be said of sequels of beloved books that don’t end in a way that the reader imagined it would. As writers, we give characters obstacles, make them work for their happy (or at least content) endings, but we give them that at a minimum. At least, we should. It’s our duty.

On the surface, it may be considered trivial. And for the most part, fiction probably doesn’t stack up well against the troubles actual reality brings. But for some readers or viewers of fiction, characters take up space in our minds on a very conscious level, and relatedness for these characters may remain, as well as hope in general.

In the case of fiction, it will always be the writer who ultimately decides what happens to protagonists. What a power to behold! Use it wisely.

Back to the reality we talked about before… Who actually decides what happens? A theologian would have a different answer to a realist. But the truth is, obstacles placed in our paths are done so by people who yield this power, sometimes unexpectedly.

And as the protagonists of our own lives, it may feel like an end of sorts when this happens.

But it isn’t. It’s just our brains telling us that it may last. But it won’t.

A window will open around the corner again. And it won’t feel forced or with holes in life’s fabric.

We must believe that things will work out.

Responsible writers, theologians (and dare I say realists) tell us it will.