I admit I enjoy stories with happy endings. Now that I have finished Book 1, I can no longer hold on to such notions. I must remember to be mindful of falling in love with these wonderful characters for their life expectancy may be short.So I am nursing my wounds as I read Book 2 cautiously waiting for the scab to be ripped off again and again when someone is wiped out. I suppose I'll have to go to Friendly's if I want that happy ending.
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Happy Ending Anyone?
Started by
msked
, Jun 21 2011 09:17 AM
17 replies to this topic
#2
Ser Pistus
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Posted 21 June 2011 - 09:24 AM
msked, on 21 June 2011 - 09:17 AM, said:
I admit I enjoy stories with happy endings. Now that I have finished Book 1, I can no longer hold on to such notions. I must remember to be mindful of falling in love with these wonderful characters for their life expectancy may be short.So I am nursing my wounds as I read Book 2 cautiously waiting for the scab to be ripped off again and again when someone is wiped out. I suppose I'll have to go to Friendly's if I want that happy ending.
#3
Corvinus
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Posted 21 June 2011 - 12:45 PM
Ser Pistus, on 21 June 2011 - 09:24 AM, said:
I honestly cannot follow your thinking. Consider the Star Wars movies as a paralel. Ben Kenobi dies in Star Wars, therefore the trilogy cannot have a happy ending?
Ben Kenobi was not viewed as the main character and he died fairly early in the story.
#4
Slychd
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Posted 21 June 2011 - 04:25 PM
msked, on 21 June 2011 - 09:17 AM, said:
I admit I enjoy stories with happy endings. Now that I have finished Book 1, I can no longer hold on to such notions. I must remember to be mindful of falling in love with these wonderful characters for their life expectancy may be short.So I am nursing my wounds as I read Book 2 cautiously waiting for the scab to be ripped off again and again when someone is wiped out. I suppose I'll have to go to Friendly's if I want that happy ending.
I understand how you feel, but not everything has a happy ending. If every character we liked lived happily ever after and all the wicked died, the series would be no different than the majority of trite fantasy. I seldom read fantasy genre because it has a tendency to lean towards cliche, but I am glad I started this series, so far it seems very different.
#5
Lucreel
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Posted 24 June 2011 - 10:04 PM
Some stories are tragedies.
Tragedy, as a genre, has had a long and rich history. Why do we read and watch tragedies, when we could be watching comedies instead? For the same reason that when we eat a fine meal, we do not taste just sweet, or just salty, but also sour, bitter, and hot.
I don't know that Song of Ice and Fire is, strictly speaking, a tragedy, but it certainly has elements of tragedy.
I thought quite about this once upon a time, the question of why do humans author and read tragedies. I think for a number of reasons - for those of us with blessed lives, perhaps it helps us to live vicariously a less happy existence, and so, thereby, to learn empathy. For those who have lived lives of pain, perhaps through working through the pain of these fictional characters, we can help to work through the very real pain we cannot face in our real lives. For us all, we can see that pain is not exceptional, nor unique to our lives. That is, through the fictional tragedy, the author and the audience can understand that we are all bound together in a brotherhood of suffering. That suffering is common to the human existence, and that happiness is a blessing when we have it, but when we don't, we are not alone.
For the foolish, which is to say us all, perhaps we can gain some measure wisdom through the story - one great common aspect I have found through my reading of tragedies, in that in nearly all of them, the tragedy is something which doesn't simply happen to them as passive victims - though there is certainly much which is out of their control, but very often, the actors participate in bringing their own misery upon themselves, through bad choices. It may be that in reading such a story, we can better see the bad choices in our own lives which contribute to our own suffering.
Tragedy, as a genre, has had a long and rich history. Why do we read and watch tragedies, when we could be watching comedies instead? For the same reason that when we eat a fine meal, we do not taste just sweet, or just salty, but also sour, bitter, and hot.
I don't know that Song of Ice and Fire is, strictly speaking, a tragedy, but it certainly has elements of tragedy.
I thought quite about this once upon a time, the question of why do humans author and read tragedies. I think for a number of reasons - for those of us with blessed lives, perhaps it helps us to live vicariously a less happy existence, and so, thereby, to learn empathy. For those who have lived lives of pain, perhaps through working through the pain of these fictional characters, we can help to work through the very real pain we cannot face in our real lives. For us all, we can see that pain is not exceptional, nor unique to our lives. That is, through the fictional tragedy, the author and the audience can understand that we are all bound together in a brotherhood of suffering. That suffering is common to the human existence, and that happiness is a blessing when we have it, but when we don't, we are not alone.
For the foolish, which is to say us all, perhaps we can gain some measure wisdom through the story - one great common aspect I have found through my reading of tragedies, in that in nearly all of them, the tragedy is something which doesn't simply happen to them as passive victims - though there is certainly much which is out of their control, but very often, the actors participate in bringing their own misery upon themselves, through bad choices. It may be that in reading such a story, we can better see the bad choices in our own lives which contribute to our own suffering.
#6
Kissiq
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Posted 25 June 2011 - 12:28 AM
msked, on 21 June 2011 - 09:17 AM, said:
I admit I enjoy stories with happy endings. Now that I have finished Book 1, I can no longer hold on to such notions. I must remember to be mindful of falling in love with these wonderful characters for their life expectancy may be short.So I am nursing my wounds as I read Book 2 cautiously waiting for the scab to be ripped off again and again when someone is wiped out. I suppose I'll have to go to Friendly's if I want that happy ending.
hmmmm.. I think I am so used to books where there is one star! One MaIN characters and the rest are just friends and enemies around him. When those people fall out one by one I weep for the characters loss of friends, and laugh when his those that die are his enemies.
Martin has definitely giving me something new and exciting here. First of all NO ONE is a hero here! we dont have one great hero that we spend all day revolving around. There is no real Good or Evil human here in the book as well. We are seeing where they all come from so we can fit out selves in their shoes. Even the hound who I was gonna hate, has become my favourite non-POV character. I guess if they showed us Cersai's POV I would probably understand where she was coming from too.
Its either there are no hero's or all the POV characters are heroes, because the book seems like a trajegy when I read from someone else's perspective how a character just died after I was reading from his perspective. yeah... the scab is picked, ripped and re-ripped many many times.
#7
madking
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Posted 26 June 2011 - 09:33 PM
msked, on 21 June 2011 - 09:17 AM, said:
I admit I enjoy stories with happy endings. Now that I have finished Book 1, I can no longer hold on to such notions. I must remember to be mindful of falling in love with these wonderful characters for their life expectancy may be short.So I am nursing my wounds as I read Book 2 cautiously waiting for the scab to be ripped off again and again when someone is wiped out. I suppose I'll have to go to Friendly's if I want that happy ending.
#8
Ser Hellingly
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Posted 28 June 2011 - 02:08 PM
I'm quite pleased that all my favourite characters are still alive. However, I don't believe there always has to be a happy ending for every good guy. I could accept any of my favourite characters being killed off, so long as the were given a well-written death, and there was a purpose to their death.
#9
House Balstroko
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Posted 14 November 2011 - 09:27 AM
I'm glad this story doesn't follow the traditional path of good vs evil where good always triumphs. The uncertainty about the outcome is what makes this series so addictive.
#10
The Black Betha
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Posted 17 November 2011 - 09:12 AM
Ser Hellingly, on 28 June 2011 - 02:08 PM, said:
I'm quite pleased that all my favourite characters are still alive. However, I don't believe there always has to be a happy ending for every good guy. I could accept any of my favourite characters being killed off, so long as the were given a well-written death, and there was a purpose to their death.
Spoiler
, but I'm glad that it wasn't a pointless death.
#11
BigFatCoward
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Posted 17 November 2011 - 10:05 AM
if you like happy endings i heartily recommend Joe Abercrombie's First Law. the ending is so uplifting it makes the shawshank redemption seem morose.
#12
Nahlim
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Posted 23 November 2011 - 10:01 AM
There is a part of me that still hopes for retribution for what happens to some of the characters, but the more I read, I realize that might never happen... I would hate for the series to end in a completely tragic manner, though... I hope GRRM finds a way to end it adequately...
#13
Magikal989
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Posted 10 January 2012 - 05:11 AM
For me, the more I read, the more I felt GoT was real life. Unlike the majority of fantasy, here there is neither good or evil, just shades of both.
And it makes use of the gritty truth, that just because you are good and honourable, does not give you a pleasant life. Ned's fate exactly! I do hope to see retribution, somewhere in the long run but in the short run, Ned had the worst time of all. Had he just been a bit more cunning, just a little less honourable...
Like real life, I think there will be no happy or sad endings. Real life doesn't have endings, huh? The characters will have their good times and bad times, some may die and the others survive.
And I feel the whole series will end in a cliffhanger!
And it makes use of the gritty truth, that just because you are good and honourable, does not give you a pleasant life. Ned's fate exactly! I do hope to see retribution, somewhere in the long run but in the short run, Ned had the worst time of all. Had he just been a bit more cunning, just a little less honourable...
Like real life, I think there will be no happy or sad endings. Real life doesn't have endings, huh? The characters will have their good times and bad times, some may die and the others survive.
And I feel the whole series will end in a cliffhanger!
#14
Ygrette
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Posted 08 February 2012 - 03:59 AM
"There are no shadows in the dark. Shadows are the servants of light, the children of fire. The brightest flame casts the darkest shadows."
Edited by Ygrette, 08 February 2012 - 03:59 AM.
#15
Xtopher
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Posted 08 February 2012 - 01:25 PM
Ygrette, on 08 February 2012 - 03:59 AM, said:
"There are no shadows in the dark. Shadows are the servants of light, the children of fire. The brightest flame casts the darkest shadows."
im starting to hate Melisandre and her ambiguous answers.
#16
Snow Ghost
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Posted 09 February 2012 - 12:54 PM
Xtopher, on 08 February 2012 - 01:25 PM, said:
im starting to hate Melisandre and her ambiguous answers.
I think Melisandre is a incredible character.
msked, on 21 June 2011 - 09:17 AM, said:
I admit I enjoy stories with happy endings. Now that I have finished Book 1, I can no longer hold on to such notions. I must remember to be mindful of falling in love with these wonderful characters for their life expectancy may be short.So I am nursing my wounds as I read Book 2 cautiously waiting for the scab to be ripped off again and again when someone is wiped out. I suppose I'll have to go to Friendly's if I want that happy ending.
That's what's special in GOT and ASOIAF as whole, it's not about good x evil, and happy endings, let's face that it isn't Harry Potter or such, it's very much like real life, good and bad moments, and sometimes more than just a little screwed up. I don't think it'll have a happy end, nor a tragic one, it's going to be just like real life, some live and some die, but nothing really ends, just changes. We just go on, one day after another, one step at time
Edited by Snow Ghost, 09 February 2012 - 12:56 PM.
#17
Ygrette
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Posted 09 February 2012 - 01:12 PM
Snow Ghost, on 09 February 2012 - 12:54 PM, said:
That's what's special in GOT and ASOIAF as whole, it's not about good x evil, and happy endings, let's face that it isn't Harry Potter or such, it's very much like real life, good and bad moments, and sometimes more than just a little screwed up. I don't think it'll have a happy end, nor a tragic one, it's going to be just like real life, some live and some die, but nothing really ends, just changes. We just go on, one day after another, one step at time
And that's why I love ASoIaF so much.
That's also one charm of all those strings of storyline woven together to make a whole. Some sad, some amusing, some ironic, some infuriating and woven together they give us a pretty balanced story that is neither too dark nor too cheesy or dramatic. Just right. Like a well balanced dish of exotic flavours.
#18
Snow Ghost
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Posted 09 February 2012 - 01:40 PM
Ygrette, on 09 February 2012 - 01:12 PM, said:
And that's why I love ASoIaF so much.
That's also one charm of all those strings of storyline woven together to make a whole. Some sad, some amusing, some ironic, some infuriating and woven together they give us a pretty balanced story that is neither too dark nor too cheesy or dramatic. Just right. Like a well balanced dish of exotic flavours.
That's also one charm of all those strings of storyline woven together to make a whole. Some sad, some amusing, some ironic, some infuriating and woven together they give us a pretty balanced story that is neither too dark nor too cheesy or dramatic. Just right. Like a well balanced dish of exotic flavours.
That was what drawn me in the fist place. It's not always that you find someone that can write such different characters so well being faithful to who they are in such a balanced way
Edited by Snow Ghost, 09 February 2012 - 01:40 PM.
