Timewaster's Guide Archive

Ha, I suppose that could be a question for Brandon too: What're the chances that we'll see Elend and Vin again?

Really I don't think there's a chance we will. Killing main characters at the end of a story and then bringing them back to life later doesn't seem like something he'd do. I got the sense that it was a final end, a last goodbye - hence the last chapter.

*sigh*
Who knows? Maybe they will be back?

Vin and Elend spent the entire book trying to beat Ruin despite being just two humans struggling against a god-like entity.  Defeating Ruin was their overriding goal throughout, more important to them than even their own lives in the end.  They accomplished their goal and are happy.  It's a little sad that they had to die to pull it off, but they decided it was worth it.

Personally, I think it would have been cheap and something of a cop out if Vin and Elend won outright without such a major sacrifice. 

But if you think about what you're saying, it doesn't make much sense at the end there. "They accomplished their goal and are happy." When you put it like that, which is a very valid way to put it considering that Brandon went to special effort to have Sazed report their happiness, does it not belittle their "sacrifice"? You say it's cheap without a major sacrifice, but what did they sacrifice? They gave up a few moments of joy and a few moments of pain (ie life) for an eternity of happiness.

I suppose when it's put like that, Elend choosing not to fight - choosing to have the woman he loves kill herself - doesn't seem so bad if they just get an eternity of happiness. Maybe I've just been looking at it from the wrong angle, but to me I'd rather think that the events of the final book mattered , and the two shouldn't have just killed themselves when Ruin got free. And if I think the book matters, then I think life matters, and then I'm back to being annoyed with their suicides to a plan millenia old....

I should start this with a confession, one that'll most likely garner some disapproval (I've been on enough forums myself): I didn't read all 53 pages. I only finished this series in the wee hours of this morning, having spent all of my "Free" time reading it yesterday - start to finish, and I only got through the first twenty or so pages before the urge to spill my thoughts became overpwoering. I absolutely loved the trilogy, and will probably pick up Elantris when I next visit the bookstore as well as other Sanderson books (hopefully!) in the future. I think some of the compliments from other authors on the covers of his books (first two paperbacks, third one hardback) struck me as being especially true. Not the silly nonsense about "fans of Goodkind and Jordan will love this! A great read!" (minor detour: I know Brandon is writing the next WoT book, but honestly I've never liked Jordan's series while I've got Goodkind to thank for bringing me to fantasy in the first place, so I always find it amusing that Goodkind and Jordan are synonymous to publishers. /end), but the one that comes to mind had to do with Brandon having something to the effect of a real understanding of leadership and love and how they influence characters. And I agree wholeheartedly.
On another, related, point, I really liked the development of the series, both in terms of the characters and the plot, and I felt really attached to the main figures for most of the journey.

So before I turn this into a review of the whole series, I should probably get to the point - namely, that I'm one of those evil and ignorant blasphemers who didn't like ("hated" seems such a strong word, though it might be closer to the truth) the end of the trilogy. Hopefully you didn't just break your screen in your attempts to throttle me...

My question:
"Why?" This is Brandon Sanderson writing, and I don't think any of us believe he really couldn't come up with a way to end the book without at least suggesting that the only two characters we TRULY care about can live. We don't read books to watch the bad guys fall - that'd get boring real quick. We read for characters, because we become involved with them, care about them and their struggles, want them to succeed even when they themselves don't think they can. "The world lived happily ever after" doesn't satisfy me if the things I care about in that world don't - once the people I care about die and stay dead, Ruin has won. In fact that's exactly how Vin finally felt after her strange display by Elend's corpse - she had nothing left to live for - not happiness, not joy, not Sazed, not Spook, not Kelsier, not Elend. She wasn't "sacrificing" her life so that everyone else could live and be happy, she was committing suicide the only way a god could.

Actually never mind. I did have 560 words written explaining my stance, but I've decided all those things aren't important. Maybe it's just a difference in what readers look for: maybe some look for plot and others for character. I won't deny that the ending tied it all up rather well plot-wise, it was very well done in that respect. But for someone who looks for and cares for the characters in a novel, having the only two people I really care about both commit suicide feels like a slap in the face from a friend. Feels like worse than that - like an absolute betrayal.

  sorry for the melodrama, but I think that's the real problem people have with the ending (those of us who don't like it). Vin and Elend being happy in a supposed afterlife is not a consolation at all. Them being happy in the afterlife happens if Ruin wins or if Ruin loses. If they can be happy together in the afterlife,  perhaps they should've committed suicide when they fell in love and had an eternity of peace. Or just let Ruin win. But they didn't, because mumbo-jumbo aside, life is what matters, and in the living realm those two are gone.

(nonetheless, thank you for keeping me up late Brandon  )