So I'm writing a series of novels that focuses on war. In the next to last novel I decided that a battle goes horribly wrong, killing essentially everyone except the main character(He survives due to a macguffin that is able to shape reality once it's completed but as a consequence, the friends who hold the other pieces have to die. In fact he reluctantly has to kill them himself, something the entire group agrees he has to d0) and the opposing army as well as the main antagonist and the human followers that he has persuaded to his way of life. . The final novel follows this character 10 years later trying to find human survivors to possibly make an army to take the main antagonist. This macguffin is incomplete as the final piece belongs to the main antagonist. It can essentially resurrect humanity/ alter time, and such. Anyway to get to the point, would it be okay? to resurrect the main cast for the sake of a happy ending(that does affect the world in some way). Or will the audience feel cheated?
I think if it's been set up properly, it won't feel like cheating. Does the mc know that doing what he's doing will resurrect everyone? Is it his mission in going after the antag - or at least part of it? I could see it working as the story of the quest to take the antag down and take their macguffin specifically in order to 'save' everyone, or even that being sort of a co-goal in getting revenge, but not if that whole factor/possibility is an unknown. It's a matter of stakes, I think. If the people who've tried are treated as sort of being in a state of limbo and still capable of being retroactively saved, then "I have to win in order to save my friends" makes sense. We know that saving everyone is on the line. They may as well still be alive. But if you tell us that everyone's dead - or more specifically, don't tell us that they don't have to stay that way - and the mc just wants revenge, and then as a bonus, surprise, everyone's also alive again! - that seems cheap and tacked-on. eta: I remembered a thread vaguely like this from a bit ago, so I scared it up in case anything said in there could be useful to you. Link.
I'm actually struggling to remember the last book I read or movie/show I watched where someone important died and actually stayed dead. Character death has become completely meaningless in genre fiction. I'd be genuinely surprised if a character didn't come back from the dead. Noble Sacrifices in genre fiction are like the flu. Sucks balls at the time, but you get over it. What plot function would this resurrection serve? Is it just to have this scene at the end?
Oh god return of the king(in other words fuck no). Off topic I hate frodo so much, and he's treated like a hero even though he didn't overcome evil. I'll spoil my ending to explain what happens. Essentially the main character realizes even if he resurrects humanity, people will kill him and still probably destroy itself because of this war that involved both him and the main antagonist, and their respective religions. The main antagonist(who's backstory is incredibly similar) realizes his mistakes after he kills the main character and essentially erases his mistake of picking up the macguffin to start the novels plot in the first place but with a twist. Everyone pays for their sins, and certain things in each persons life triggers memories part of this world that never was. The main character and his friends reunite but with a different future and remember the past they do share. Culminating in a final scene where when the main character turns 26 like he is at the beginning of the series, reunites with his love interest who doens't remember him.
I mean, that would work. I wouldn't find it particularly surprising or exciting, but I wouldn't feel cheated either. At least that's my best guess. It's very hard to discuss the emotional impact of a synopsis, so this is just conjecture. But if I were reading a book that had a reality-altering doohickey in it, this is pretty much what I'd expect to happen in the end. I'm biased though. I've kind of had it with stories that erase their own stakes by having a time turner gathering dust in the closet. So make sure you've got crystal clear rules and reason for why this thing isn't a Get Out Of Consequences Free card. But if that's your ending, yeah, you've basically got no choice to resurrect the entire cast. It'd be weird not to.
I mean people still live with their previous memories of the other life, and to a certain extent gain scars and or amputations, which essentially changes the world in good and bad ways. The world is still on edge(due to humanity being humanity) only this time it's possible to stop humanity from destroying itself.
That sounds like an ending I'd be okay with. Just don't make the antagonist change suddenly or out of the blue; build up to it. I really hate it when an antagonist (or even a protagonist) suddenly changes for no reason I can perceive.
