'Tis a Time for Endings...
Such is the nature of things.
I was ruminating on something that I've said multiple times in the past 24 hours, that "I have been anticipating and dreading this day in equal amounts for the past eight years."
I am, first and foremost, a collector of stories; in a very real way it is my driving force in my life. Once, years ago, after a another night of finishing another book and sitting alone in my room, staring at the dark ceiling, I pondered as to my reason. And it was "tell me a story." I pondered some more. "Tell me stories of great deeds and simple pleasures, of love and hate, of epic quests and personal searches, of free will and manipulation, of small men and big hearts, of evil kings and noble villains, of conquest and creation, of pride and perseverance, of those that hold worlds in their hands and the lone soldier on whom the battle turns, of broken hearts and healed souls..." I am still pondering.
"Tell me a story."
I find them everywhere--books, movies, games, television--and I cherish them. But all stories end; the credits roll, the last page is reached, the finale is broadcast. The story ends. And then they are cherished... and mourned. I have seen it today; many say that they are mourning, whether they realize it or not, whether they recognize the feelings or not, they are still mourning. So let us have a wake, I say, and grieve and laugh and cry and do all the things that people do when something that we cherish has ended. The pain in my own heart at this ending has already been reduced just by writing this, by acknowledging it for what it is. Laugh if you want or must, but I know that I am not the only one with these feelings.
So, tell of the stories that you have followed in your life, the works of fiction, the whole cloth or the single character, that grew with you, that you saw finish before your eyes.
As for myself, the stories that I grew with, not the single stories that last a single book or film or the ones that were done before I discovered them (although those are incredibly important too), but the ones that were built over time in front of me, that are a part of me as much as my bones and sinew are, the ones that I saw finished and ended, complete or not...
A few (and the most important)
Babylon 5
Star Trek (in three incarnations)
Star Wars (although it is still moving on, to a degree, in books)
Animorphs
Anakin Solo (who is not moving on in those books)
Neo and the Matrix
And now Harry Potter, the character and that entire world, joins that list (second one from the head, I might add, right after B5).
And there are others that will join them soon as well; the world of Halo, for one, ends this September, a triple cliffhanger that will be resolved after three years.
So, what are the stories, of a whole universe or of a single character, that you have followed, that you have watched grow and mature... and end?
I was ruminating on something that I've said multiple times in the past 24 hours, that "I have been anticipating and dreading this day in equal amounts for the past eight years."
I am, first and foremost, a collector of stories; in a very real way it is my driving force in my life. Once, years ago, after a another night of finishing another book and sitting alone in my room, staring at the dark ceiling, I pondered as to my reason. And it was "tell me a story." I pondered some more. "Tell me stories of great deeds and simple pleasures, of love and hate, of epic quests and personal searches, of free will and manipulation, of small men and big hearts, of evil kings and noble villains, of conquest and creation, of pride and perseverance, of those that hold worlds in their hands and the lone soldier on whom the battle turns, of broken hearts and healed souls..." I am still pondering.
"Tell me a story."
I find them everywhere--books, movies, games, television--and I cherish them. But all stories end; the credits roll, the last page is reached, the finale is broadcast. The story ends. And then they are cherished... and mourned. I have seen it today; many say that they are mourning, whether they realize it or not, whether they recognize the feelings or not, they are still mourning. So let us have a wake, I say, and grieve and laugh and cry and do all the things that people do when something that we cherish has ended. The pain in my own heart at this ending has already been reduced just by writing this, by acknowledging it for what it is. Laugh if you want or must, but I know that I am not the only one with these feelings.
So, tell of the stories that you have followed in your life, the works of fiction, the whole cloth or the single character, that grew with you, that you saw finish before your eyes.
As for myself, the stories that I grew with, not the single stories that last a single book or film or the ones that were done before I discovered them (although those are incredibly important too), but the ones that were built over time in front of me, that are a part of me as much as my bones and sinew are, the ones that I saw finished and ended, complete or not...
A few (and the most important)
Babylon 5
Star Trek (in three incarnations)
Star Wars (although it is still moving on, to a degree, in books)
Animorphs
Anakin Solo (who is not moving on in those books)
Neo and the Matrix
And now Harry Potter, the character and that entire world, joins that list (second one from the head, I might add, right after B5).
And there are others that will join them soon as well; the world of Halo, for one, ends this September, a triple cliffhanger that will be resolved after three years.
So, what are the stories, of a whole universe or of a single character, that you have followed, that you have watched grow and mature... and end?