At the End of All Stories

Does this sound familiar: you find a story which captures your mind and makes your heart beat a little faster with every word you read, every moment you watch...whenever you hear the music (whether provided for you, or of your own selection) it makes your skin tingle with a special anticipation...a flutter in your gut, your breath catches...somehow, inexplicably, this myth, which is not in any way linked to your real life...this story...rings true.

You devour every moment you can; if it's a book, the words seem to fly off the page as your eyes swallow entire paragraphs at a glance...if it's a movie or a TV show, you rigorously guard the appointed hour and follow dutifully all the little extras they release in the meantime, and avoid the spoilers who would rob you of experiencing the moment in the moment.

The story captivates your idle thoughts, influences your manner of speech, perhaps even the way you dress. (Alright...this probably only happens if it's a really good story. And probably only if you are a nerd such as I...) Every moment you can savor this story for the first time is a special bliss...others might give you a knowing look, as fellow partakers...but the experience is also deeply personal; it's what helps make you *you* and it is something you will carry with you always. Ask any true fan about the first time they read Lord of the Rings.

Of course...then there's the tragic, inevitable moment when you know that the end draws nigh. There's no avoiding this problem (though I have tried...to avoid finishing The Man Who was Thursday I put the book down for 4 months...when I picked it back up, I had a hard time remembering everything...and it still ended); if you try to hold onto the moment and slow down on the march to the end, you twist the story and do it a disservice. No, you must come to the end. It is the natural way; all stories end...and when our favorites do...we experience a loss which is difficult to define.

Nobody has died. In many cases, our heroes have experienced the end we hoped for...resolution is the point of these conflicts, and it is a relief to finally find that safety and consolation we hoped for; occasionally, stories let us down, but even if they ended badly, the conclusion is vital to the finished product.

And yet...despite worlds moving, hearts breaking, hope beyond hope yielding results greater than even we dared to dream of and everything being different because of it...weirdly nothing has changed.

Sigh.

So, what now? How do we fill the space? What do we do, when the story ends and we are brought heartbreakingly back to a real world that doesn't understand how precious and beautiful and wonderful life was for a few moments (prior to the last few words on the last page, or the closing scene, fade to black...)...more importantly, WHY must we endure this loss?

Two thoughts: first, we live as our heroes would live if this world were theirs. That's not to say, become a Ranger and abandon life in the city, or go in search of a school to teach you to use your magical powers...(problematic, since we're Muggles, but I digress). The "what" your hero does is not what you're supposed to do; it's the "how". That sounds depressing...but I venture to guess that in most stories, the heroes don't spend the entire time reflecting on how awesome they are. Rather, they exhibit virtues which are sorely needed in our own world...and we need heroes to step up and shoulder the responsibility of saving us.

Second, the reason we fill this emptiness is fairly straight-forward: it is because we are empty. We are looking for our story, we are waiting to embark and are anticipating the chance to be something we feel certain we were meant to be...but have not yet realized. Good stories let us touch that, for a moment...offer us the chance to glimpse, as through a mirror dimly, the adventures we have yet to encounter. The high country, for which our souls are still being conditioned...the hopes we have not yet learned to even dream.

Yet it is not for naught...at the end of all the stories, when the themes of redemption and salvation and heroism and love and perseverance and courage and justice have all been told, and filled our souls with so much light we can barely contain them all...at the end of our story, when life has closed (sometimes sooner than expected...perhaps after more time than we could have believed possible), we will open our eyes into a reality so crisp and unmistakeable, that all the stories we have ever known will resonate at once and we will have found our eternally new, fully resolved story.

Until that day, I continue to read, watch, and dream.

Hallows, not Horcruxes

Reader beware...there will be spoilers ahead. If you haven't finished reading The Deathly Hallows, and you don't want to know more than you already do, stop reading.

Ye have been warned.

To begin with, HP:TDH was, in my opinion, excellent. Its taken me about three weeks to process my thoughts on this final book...but that's the first thought I had when I finished, and it remains my opinion even now.

There are so many themes in this story. Rowling truly outdid herself in this final addition. The book deals with the coming of age of childhood heroes; the importance of friendship; the nature of family; the nature of power; the reality of war, the painful truth of resisting evil, and beyond all the others I haven't listed...of course...it deals with death. Death...its place in our society's consciousness, whether or not it is a thing to be feared, and ultimately what death actually is.

Throughout the first six books, almost from page one of book one, fans of Rowling have been obsessed with Harry surviving the inevitable final confrontation with Voldemort. He who must not be named posed threat after threat, and by the 4th book (if we don't count the death's that started it all, James and Lily Potter), each victory came at a price, and each price was successively more costly...first Cedric, then Sirius, and finally Dumbledore. By the time we reached the 7th book, we were gripping ourselves for the final blow, wondering who would make it...afraid to ask, almost afraid to read, lest more beloved characters fall to the lethal pen strokes that had already taken beloved heroes from us.

And, of course, we were not disappointed. Death was waiting, in abundance, in the Deathly Hallows. Kicking us off with Hedwig, we soon suffered the loss of, among others, Madeye, Dobby, Ted Tonks, Lupin, Tonks herself, Snape, Colin Creevey, even Fred Weasley...until the time came, and Harry himself had to die.

It was brilliantly done.

Because, when that final cataclysmic moment came, Harry didn't fight desperately; he didn't beg pathetically; he didn't even stand defiantly and challenge Voldemort with his dying breath. No...he just walked out to meet his enemy and died, turning his thoughts to his love before the final moment came.

It was poignant and simple. I would guess it was generally unexpected too...the best I can claim is that I suspected that something essential about Harry would have to change if he was going to defeat Voldemort. I did not go so far as to guess that his death was the answer...I had suspicions, but not an actualized guess.

But of course death was the answer for Harry, as it usually is in this life. Rather than pursuing power to master death and defeat an enemy, Harry sought to destroy the enchantments of death that Voldemort used to cheat death, and ultimately accepted death himself. And by dying willingly, Harry saved not only his own life, but effectively secured the lives of those he loved and sacrificed himself to spare.

Life coming from death…and without death, that life could not exist…but after that death, life will be better; stronger; more beautiful and full than life before it ever was. A more profoundly Christian message is difficult to find.

This message is remarkable, and one can only wonder what it will do to this generation. One expects these sorts of stories from the men that manned the trenches in WWI, who encouraged the people through WWII…what do we do with this message from a woman that has lived most of her life in a time without a drastic struggle, who speaks it at a time when we would rather look the other way than acknowledge the challenges that face us?

But this ending should not have been surprising coming from Rowling. From the beginning, she had been telling us that Death was not the enemy we assume it to be. In Book 1, Dumbledore tells an incredulous Harry that though Nicholas Flamel and his wife will die as a result of no longer having the Elixir of Life, death is not the worst end to a well ordered life; rather, it’s the beginning of something new. This message is repeated over and over again in the books…but as a testament to her skill, the final solution being Harry’s accepted death still manages to surprise. And the power of the message still manages to challenge us. If we would hold our lives loosely (not cheaply, but loosely) what might our world look like?

All in all…it was wonderful. The bottom line is…this book should be read. I think it will be read a hundred years from now…making it a classic. Maybe I’m too caught in the fanboy spirit to see the faults…but I think this book (this series actually) deals with too much truth in too beautiful a manner to pass out of reckoning or to be passed over as trite.

Sigh. My only problem now is…the story is over. Harry…we’ll miss you. Thanks for the years of waiting and the hours of reading.