Jacquelyn Butler: "Dear Vina Jie-Min Prasad: An Unsatisfying Send Off"

Dear Vina Jie-Min Prasad: An Unsatisfying Send Off

By Jacquelyn Butler

The topic of well-done endings is a subjective and spoiler filled question (consider this your warning). One of the most well-done endings I’ve read is Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle.

During the novel, Paolini did a great job justifying each of the character’s fates and making them seem true to what we knew about the character based on the information given to us throughout the series. For example, throughout the series, we see the main character Eragon lamenting the fact that his dragon, Saphira, is the last free dragon. So, when he finds a vault full of unhatched dragon eggs, it makes sense that he would jump at the chance to revitalize the Dragon Riders, even though he had to leave behind his loved ones. Despite this not being the fairy tale ending where the main characters all live out the rest of their lives together, it feels satisfying because Paolini didn’t suddenly change styles or make the main character do something that they wouldn’t normally do.

Even some of the minor characters in the novel had endings that were well fleshed out and true to them. Eragon’s companion Arya ended up becoming the queen of Alagaësia’s elves and throughout the book series, she was built up as very independent, caring more about the fate of her people than her relationship with Eragon. Therefore, it made sense that at the end of the series she stays behind to rule her people rather than joining Eragon in leaving Alagaësia forever. Eragon’s half-brother Murtagh spends most of the series in forced servitude to Galbatorix except for the end of the series in which he helps Eragon defeat the evil king, so it makes sense that he elects to spend his life on the outskirts of Alagaësia where people aren’t afraid of him and he can live in peace with his dragon rather than live in fear for his life. While these are not the unrealistically optimistic endings we’ve come to expect from fantasy novels they feel true to the characters.

On the other side of the scale, there are some book series that have endings that feel like they were started and finished in the last half hour before the deadline. For example, one of my favorite book series John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice had an ending that I felt was extremely unsatisfying because it wasn’t true to the characters.

At the beginning of the series, we are introduced to two orphans named Will and Alyss. Alyss is fleshed out a great deal throughout the story, allowing us to feel close to her- but spoiler alert- the author reveals to us at the beginning of the last book that she was killed in a random tavern fire set by bandits during the time skip between the previous book and the final one. This felt like an easy way to get rid of a character that the author didn’t really know how to deal with and a quick way to spur on the plot rather than writing the ending that the character deserved.

This was especially unsatisfying for me because her death spurred the protagonist into a weird revenge quest that seemed like it had little to nothing to do with the rest of the series. His actions were extremely out of character, because throughout the series, Will maintains a steady stream of humor, remaining determined despite the seemingly insurmountable odds. His abrupt change to a jaded and apathetic character felt foreign from the orphan I related to during the book’s precursors, as well as making the last book a lot darker than its predecessors. As a reader this was extremely frustrating because I spent a great deal of time reading and re-reading the series only for the author to end it in a way that felt separate from the books I loved.

Overall, in my experience, most of the best endings in fiction come from being true to the characters developed during the series, rather than throwing together a plotline to maintain the attention of a rapidly dwindling audience. Often, doing so destroys the feeling of escapism readers often search for when reading. I enjoy picking up a new series to dive into a world just as realistic and complex as the one I live in, so when an ending does not feel true to the character it shatters the illusion that I’m in another world, making the book unsatisfying.