In my fantasy WIP, my character goes through a huge transition. She's an orphaned farm hand (cliche, I know, but I don't care) turned queen. She learns throughout the series that she possesses a long-dead magic gifted to her by a dead goddess, giving her the ability to predict, change, and walk through time. She'll defeat a bad guy (twice) throughout three or more books, and at the end, I cannot for the life of me figure out what I want to happen to her. Make her a goddess to replace the one who died? Have her continue to be queen? Have her move to the past to live in a simpler time? I don't know. What would you like to see as an ending to the entire series, and what would disappoint you to see? Thanks in advance!
Stay as a queen, but don't make it 'happily ever after' -- make it clear that being queen, even with her powers is exhausting, complex, often frustrating work that she'll be doing for the rest of her life...but it's the right place for her to be. Making her a goddess removes her form play, and having her run away and hide in a simpler time seems to be a contradiction in character (in that she has presumably spent 2-3 novels fighting her way through obstacles and not quitting). Also, that way you can do a sequel.
Ascension. Being queen would be a big deal, until she learned of her gift. Upon learning to control her gift and (I'm guessing) using her gift to defeat her foe (twice ) how does she go back to the 'pedestrian' life of a queen? Being queen is no longer a big deal for her, knowing what she knows and being able to do what she can do. For me, that life would be unfulfilling for her. Whether she ascends to god-hood or not, I don't know, but I think she'd have to move on from being queen (passing on the crown to a worthy successor maybe?). I'm leaning more towards a guardian (spiritual?) rather than a goddess to be honest.
A Pyrrhic victory - I find it always effective when the character completes their objectives that were outlined in the story, but at a large cost. Perhaps she defeats the bad guy, but somehow finds her new position as untenable/not what she expected? You mentioned have her move back to a simpler time; that might be quite bittersweet if there was some cataclysmic event or epiphany made her realise that she can't continue to live as she is. Endings less effective- those that we expect will happen if you asked the reader what they thought was going to happen at the end of the series. Usually that's a happily ever after, or often when the main character achieves their end goal without much cost, and it's all been a bit 'too easy' (though if you're writing for a younger audience, I'd say it's more forgiveable). There should always be a cost.
Each possible ending makes sense in my story, which is why I'm struggling. Because she defeated the bad guy twice, she would be an inspiration for her people, so continuing as queen would be logical, to help rebuild the country and whatnot. But she also has these goddess given gifts, which would give her abilities beyond understanding. Also, because she travels through time, her "past" self is known in some regions of the world and she's already risen to goddess status in those areas. However, because she defeated the bad guy twice, I could very easily see her disappearing to hide. She could feel she did her part, she saved the world (twice), and now she's done. It's someone else's turn now. See why I'm conflicted? lol
Could it be that you are fighting the implication that she's a superhero? Queen by day, goddess by night. Does she look good in a cape?
If I was writing this, I would emphasize that ruling a country is not a skill that happens overnight, and that there's going to be a nasty learning curve jumping into a position that she has spent none of her life training for. I would have her pushing herself to the limit trying to balance her new responsibilities with her existing role as a demigoddess hero, and I would have her spend a good deal of time looking for somebody that she could abdicate in favor of.
I think the idea of the MC becoming the ruler doesn't necessarily follow, if I'm being honest. She will be hugely respected and talented which she could potentially use to take control of the government, but 1) would that be what she'd really want or would a 'good' government be preferable and 2) would she necessarily be a good ruler-magical powers don't really overflow into ruling ability. I mean, think about what her powers are good for now that she's defeated the Big Bad. One would be attempting to keep the kingdom safe, another would potentially be attempting to bring said Goddess' powers back by attempting to train more people in it, perhaps? Maybe combining the two to have her founding a magical sect for the protection of the kingdom?
Go back in time, save her parents' lives, and return to babyhood to grow up happy with loving parents. Yes, it's all squishy and sentimental, but I prefer that to Big Glorious Power plots.
Honestly, I'm with you on that. I don't think my character would want the Big Glorious Power plot. As I said above, she'll feel like she did her part. She's going to want to live on her own for a while. But I'm also not sure if I wanna go that squishy. Essentially, my character Seren is going to spend two or three books fighting the Big Bad who has been unearthed after a long "hibernation." Long story short, she realizes she's the person who forced him into hibernation in the first place. So she has to go back in time and defeat the same guy a second time. Originally, I had planned on her staying in the past after defeating him, falling in love with the man who went with her to the past and raising a daughter while there. She won't necessarily live quietly, because everyone will know who she is after saving the world.. But she'd be part of the rebuilding, strengthening the country and helping to empower the people. She'd go back to her "present" eventually, but she'd probably stay in the past for ten years or so. And when she returned, she'd come back to the exact day that she left. I see the scene so clearly.. Her best friend, having just been appointed to a position of authority by Seren, stands in her new office with a heavy heart. Seren and Levon have only been gone an hour, but Verda misses them already. As she sits down at the desk, she wonders when or if she'll ever see them again. Across the room, the door slowly swings open. Verda looks up, and standing in the doorway is a young girl with flaming red hair and striking blue eyes. Two figures step up behind the girl and place a hand on her shoulder. Verda follows the arm up to a face and... "Hello, Verda," Seren says, her smile a perfect match to the young girl's. She looks to the figure standing next to her, who drapes an arm across her shoulders. "We're back." Okay, that was shitty, but you get the idea. I was just worried that'd be an unsatisfying ending for the reader, because they won't know exactly what she did in the past or the present. That'll be all they get, probably in an epilogue. Too vague?
How much of this have you actually written? If you've got volume one and two all written and you're nearing the end of book three (or four) and don't know what you're going to do, then you do have a problem. However, if you're just starting out, or haven't even started the actual writing yet, I would just get started and go with what you 've got. As your character and the scenario develops (presumably there will be other characters who will come along to interact and influence her) you'll get a better grip on what she is like and what kind of ending would suit. It sounds as if the purpose of your tale isn't how she ends up—it's what she does in the meantime. Not her eventual end. I wouldn't get bogged down in that now. And keep in mind that nobody knows their own end, do they? So maybe she won't know hers. Don't over-plan this to the point where you don't give yourself any surprises. Let the story flow as you write it, and do what seems right at the time. Unless you are a very fast writer, you've got years ahead before you need to end her. If you don't know what the ending should be, leave it open for now? And have fun with your voyage of discovery.
I guess what I wouldn't like is her being made Queen and then she decides she shouldn't bear the responsibility be the one leading her people, that surely there's someone better, and instead she escapes to the countryside or to a different time to lead a simple life. Well, I guess I'd be okay with it if she was really bad at being queen and instead she went to do some charity work, but for some reason I get a little irked when I come across characters who are given power and responsibility, and then they shirk away from their duty (I'm just about to finish a novel about a woman who abandons her people for really shallow reasons, afaic). Sure, if she saved the world twice, it kinda gives her a pass... The goddess ending might be tricky because you'd need to describe a POV of a god. But I think this is a personal gripe, again, because in my mind gods are not humans, so they shouldn't think like humans, in fact, their "thoughts" should be unintelligible to me. Silly, I know. Hmm... So I think my favorite would be her staying as queen because: -I find a character who shoulders overwhelming responsibility compelling -I wouldn't have to buy into her deciding she'd rather live in some hole in the country, but instead she'd have a decent life of proper baths, rich food, perhaps even indoor-plumbing, and she wouldn't necessarily contract some awful disease or die in child birth due to infection or something -- if by simpler time we're talking about the 1800s or earlier But that's just me. I'm sure Seren will show you the way as the story progresses.
You should make it romantic. Either we see her in the epilogue, thousands of years in the past, kneading dough in some tavern,unrecognized, and in the last sentence, a man who resembles her love interest suddenly walks in or better still, like in the Last Unicorn or Dragonheart, after defeating the enemy twice, and fully utilizing her powers, her transcendence from human being to supernatural force is inevitable, and her love interest bawls his eyes out as she turns into a constellation. Just saying, for an epic fantasy, having her continue to rule as queen, does not feel very epic.
That seems to me like the perfect set up for a sequel featuring a new protagonist who seeks her out for help and the character is unwilling to mentor them. At first, the threat should seem like the old one-- something easily defeatable since it's already happened. But then, plot twist, it's actually worse and different, they need her help after all, and not just have the new character do exactly what she did. For example, in a Star Wars AU where Luke defeats the Empire and goes into hiding, and Rey finds him, Luke gruffly refuses to train her to help defeat the First Order. "It's just like the Empire. Just do what I did and you'll be fine. You don't need my help." But then they find out Snoke has some kind of inherent Force ability that's more powerful than anything they've seen before, and Luke's like, "Okay, fine, looks like you'll need my help. Although I don't know if we can defeat the enemy this time because I've never encountered this before." I hope I didn't just predict the plot of The Last Jedi...
Actually, that would be the reason the character wouldn't want to train the new protagonist. "It's just bigger. You don't need my help."
Let her give up her part of her power to become a nun. She can defeat the enemy one more time and turn into a spiritual being.
Turn her on herself? You said she has the gift of time travel so what if she, and older person, came back to her storyline present to be against her young self in a few different ways.... -to work against whatever she does, -to undo her timetravel powers becauze of the after effects (butterfly effects) -to just plain kill herself off before she can do anything terrible that shes about to do in the future? I realize those are some heavy scenarios but they would be good ammounts of 'stress' she would have to deal with.
Hi Lea. I haven't read through all of the responses in depth, so I apologize in advance if someone else suggested this in a better way already. But instead of thinking of "what would happen' in terms of plot-only or specific action instances, think of it on a more internal level. What happens to her in the sense of emotional/developmental human experiences that would cause the kind of growth that would turn her into the hero that your plot requires? I'm not sure if I'm conveying this in the best way . But for instance, think about Dani from Game of Thrones. She's maybe kind of similar to your girl, because Dani started off as a displaced refugee orphan who wandered around from home to home being sexually abused by her brother, but grew into the Mother of Dragons and Breaker of Chains, vying for the Iron Throne. No one can relate to that high-level fantasy stuff, or to having dragons or whatever, so it's not those "plot points" that make us care. It's the human journey she goes through. The way she goes from being poor little oppressed girl to standing up to her brother for the first time, and gaining power in her own right, and then going through losses and gaining grit and eventually getting to a point where she's doing things like liberating slaves. That makes us want to cheer. It's not about the dragons or cool plot shit in itself - it's the sense of empowerment on the inside that enabled the character to get that far. Another example is Lyra from the Dark Materials trilogy. She literally breaks open Hell itself and frees all the imprisoned souls inside, but the reason why she got there is because she was hell-bent on saving her best friend in the world. People can't resonate with the Dark Materials fantasy world in of itself -- although they may think the world-building is cool, that's not what causes that feeling of swelling inside your chest when a story knocks you off your feet. That comes from the "human" part, because we all can imagine our dear loved ones who we would do anything to save, and can imagine ourselves being in the shoes of turning into a mass hero during that process. So for yours, I would advise not being too fixated on the external/plot events initially, and focus on the internal part. (The external plot stuff will come to your mind more naturally as you do this). So she can control time and walk through it - cool. What is her true, passionate, human-level motivation to want to do this? Since she's an orphan, maybe it's something like wanting to stop her mom/dad from dying so she can grow up with them, although that might be cliche and you can probably think of something better. But you get the idea. Instead of "think of random epic plot stuff to string together," think of "gut-wrenching character-driven issue that morphs into something bigger, and bigger, until the character's actions and responses make them evolve into the hero they need to be." Good luck!
If you want a kind of dark ending: Make her the same goddess that gave her that gift. I mean, if she can use time as she wants, it would make sense that it was her future self who had given her that power. The cool stuff about this concept would be to give her a choice. If she chose to give her past self these powers, everything would stay the same. If she chose otherwise, everything would change.
Well, it's either continue the cycle or collapse the universe in a broken ontological paradox, so what choice does she really have?
She neither stays a queen or a goddess. She becomes a wanderer with no name going through time and altering key events to ensure the survival of whatever race she is a of, and to improve conditions in general. In order words, she becomes what Tom Cruise thinks he is.
It's an interesting one isnt it. How do you finish your characters story. Do you just end it. They defeated the bad guys. Its done. or do you give them a little after story. My favourite endings are ones that just tie up any loose ends and just end. My favourite 'ending' is summed up in one word. Mooring. Its from Red Storm Rising and its after all is done, a warship sails in to harbour and docks. The war is over, its their final act. Done. Story over, no need to talk about what happened after. If you look at another more famous ending. Harry Potter. Has a double ending. The end of the confrontation and then a jump to a brief future scene just to show it all ended happily ever after. For your character - she becomes lost in time, destined to relive her life over and over again. Maybe this time shes reborn as the protaganist rather than the hero. - actually, i might keep that idea
