Happy Endings Discussion
So I was looking at the EW article that revealed the cover for Bloodlines by Richelle Mead and because I forgot why I don't read comments for any articles I read, I read the comments. One two-comment thread I saw went like this: first commenter doesn't want one character (who had his heart broken in the first series) to fall for the narrator, and the second commenter asks verbatim, 'You dont want him to fall for her??? Dont u think he deserves a happy ending too???'
Personally, I strongly disagree with the notion that someone has to fall in love to have a happy ending in a story. I've seen novels where a character accomplishes their dreams and has what most would generally call a happy ending. Is this character's happy ending less valid or not a happy ending at all because they didn't fall in love? I'm probably taking something an uninformed teenager said too literally, but I'm not letting the implications of that slip by me just because of whom it comes from. I've seen people say similar things more often and in a larger variety of genres than I'm comfortable with.
Do you think that a character must fall in love to have a happy ending? Discuss.