1. I’m reminded of a CSI’ish Korean Drama called Sign where one of the prominent characters dies at the end. And you really don’t want them to die but at the same, if they didn’t, justice would not have been done.  It was a bittersweet ending but the only ending possible.

    I also think of romances, which I write, that ends with HEA. Typically, it should end with guy and gal being together. Few romances take another road where the guy or girl ends up with someone else other than who they started with.  The YA thing with the love triangle keeps you guessing by giving both factions reason to root for them.

    With mysteries and thrillers, the HEA has to be all questions answered, the plot thwarted, stuff like that. You want the main protagonist to be the one to figure out the mystery or solve the problem.

    In military, political intrigue books, you want the mission accomplished or the plot unraveled.

    In spec fiction, it’s anyone’s game because HEA depends on the self-contained world of the author.

    All in all, HEA has to make sense, even if it’s sad. I think of the original Night of the Living Dead when the guy gets killed in the end after surviving all night shows irony. I think of Casablanca where Ingrid goes off with Paul than Humphrey symbolizing duty (which during the era it was created made sense) more than individual ambition.

    Thanks for the post.

    • Zac Totah says:

      I was sitting here thinking, “HEA…HEA…what does that mean?” Then it hit me. Happily ever after. LOL

      Thanks for the thoughts, Parker. You’re right that the type of appropriate end depends on the genre and the expectations of its readers. And then in some instances, there’s more than one resolution, if you will. Taking Hunger Games as an example, you had the rebellion succeeding and the districts freed, which concluded the plot, and you had the love triangle resolved, which dealt with the romantic side of the story.

      Glad you enjoyed it.

      • I got a low review on one of my books and the reviewer, this was an awful road to HEA and I was like, “HEA? What’s that?” I had to ask a friend what HEA meant! hahahaha

  2. Lisa says:

    There is definitely something to be said for the fact that the HEA ending does depend, to some extent, on the genre of the book, with romances being high on the scale. There is nothing wrong with escapist fiction in that sense, sometimes you just want to have it all work out, even if it is just on the pages of a book. However, I do think that Christian fiction tends to err on the side of always providing a happy ending even if the genre isn’t romance. My favourite is the bittersweet ending, I suppose. I like certain things to wrap up with a bow but on the other hand I want there to be some realism in the mix, too.

    • Zac Totah says:

      Agreed on the bittersweet ending, Lisa. Which is why Lord of the Rings is so powerful to me–you get the mixture of both. Striking the balance between the HEA, which can work depending on the story, and the reality of life is where endings can flounder or flourish.

  3. Time for me to once again plug the most underrated series in Christian speculative fiction: the Lamb Among the Stars. Maybe it’s because the author is British, maybe because of when it released, maybe because of who published it, but this series does not get nearly enough attention. It is the perfect example of how to employ a hopeful, transcendent finale without being “happy,” where there is pain and loss and tragedy, and where heroes fall. Hard. Even when they succeed. Seriously, everyone: please read these books.

  4. Julie D says:

    I’ve read Lamb Among the Stars, but I don’t specifically remember the ending…and I’m surprised nobody mentioned eucatastrophe yet.  One of the best eucatastrophic endings I’ve read is the final Binding of the Blade book by L. B. Graham. The main characters have gone through horrible, horrible things, but at the end, well…

    The previous books all ended with an in-universe song quotation. The final says

    The songs of the age of peace are not recorded, for they cannot be, by us, understood. It is enough to know that they are real and are and will be heard by many

     

  5. I’m a fan of a hopeful ending . . . not necessarily with everyone super happy and dancing, but something where at least a few characters are happy and there is a promise of a new day or a new life on the horizon.

What do you think?