The power of a good ending and why sometimes we can’t make it to the end

This blog title probably sounds a lot more tragic than the post will be. But recently I’ve been thinking about endings. The end of a book series we’ve loved, the end of a TV show that has been running for years, the end of living in a certain space, the end of a job… there are so many types of endings we face on a day to day basis. And sometimes we just refuse to let them end and turn the other cheek.

“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.”

– I think Sam gets this spot on in The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers

In 2016 I graduated university at the same time the final episodes of one of my favourite shows, Fresh Meat, ended. The characters were also students at uni and they were graduating in this final episode. Friends – that was four years ago and I still haven’t watched that episode. Why? Because that particular ending was going to be too damn hard. I loved my time at university and I loved how it mirrored each year of the show, so maybe if I never watched that final episode, I could live on my uni dream through those characters.

I didn’t want Fresh Meat to end because it symbolised an ending of my own, but that isn’t the only reason to cling onto a world you love. Some fictional universes are just so all-encompassing and amazing that we can’t dream of letting them go. I don’t avoid all endings, but god it’s a weird feeling to experience one you’ve both been excited for and dreading. A good example would be Avengers Endgame, a film that was highly anticipated for so many people. I saw this several times at the cinema and have seen it many times since. This concludes such an epic journey for the characters we’ve grown to know and love from this series. It has held our attention for over 10 years and with one film it signed off the world as we knew it, to be brought into a different direction. I know it’s not the end for Marvel, but this film certainly felt like an epic fair well.

When I think of endings, another one I find hard to watch is the end of Lord of the Rings, the Return of the King. I’ve seen these films countless times and have been obsessed with them since I was a child. But the way the heroics all come together to create one final moment of epicness, followed by us seeing the closing off of these characters stories. Uhhh it gives me many feeling and always makes me feel emotional. I think an ending is even more poignant when it is the end of some sort of epic journey in which the characters have bonded and grown together. This is an ending I’m so familiar with, yet it still has me welling up to watch. Surely that’s a sign of a series well made when the ending you know word for word still has you hooked. 

The ending of a book series has this same level of meaning but also comes with a sense of achievement, especially if it’s a big series. You can really delve into a book series in a way you can’t with film or TV, you can see it unfolding in your head and know the experience is unique to you. You imagine the characters different to how your friend sees them. And you can read the books at your own pace, meaning the adventure can last you as long or short as you’d like. I love that about books, the reading experience really is your own. This can also make an ending mean so much more as you really feel like these characters have become almost like friends to you.

I’ve spoken enough about endings, so I suppose it’s time to make this post end too. This was more of an essay post, a discussion between me and myself, but I hope you enjoyed it.

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