The Republic of Heaven

RULE NUMBER THREE OF STORY-TELLING: True love should always be together.

Upon first reading the conclusion of the Amber Spyglass, I was (as you can imagine) absoutely positively...upset, for lack of a better word. As in, throwing the book across the room and storming out of my bedroom in a tearful rage, cursing Mr. Pullman quite colorfully.

When I had calmed down a bit and had suffiently cleaned the stinging mascara out of my eyes (do any of you boys knows how much it hurts to sob with that stuff on? it burns!) I reread the ending again...and again...and again...now, that may seem a tad masochistic, but in truth I was looking for a loophole, someway so that Will and Lyra could be together. I found one (forgotten now), and delighted, but then upon further reflection, I realized the book would not have been the same if the protagonists had been allowed to remain together.

For one, the book obviously would not have involked the same emotional responses. Who lugs a book into a wall because true love was permitted to never be seperated? Unless you're one of those sad individuals who despises love and feelings, no one. For another, you wouldn't have understood the sacrifices Will and Lyra had to make. There wouldn't have been any sacrifices. It would have ended Happily Ever After. (Rule Two, for Story-Telling, btw)

For awhile, my good friend and I mulled over this fact. The book, which had been absolutely perfect in all other aspects, had broken on of our imaginary 'rules' for the flawless story, yet was better because of it.

Huh. That was something to ponder over.

I'm sure most of us would have liked to see Will and Lyra stay together. But, then the story we all know and love would have been quite different. So, what do you guys think? Should they have stayed together and kept the rules intact? Or does breaking all our hearts make it a better story?

Rules are made to be broken.

Plus if you read the whole book thinking "awww how cute, they're gonna get married and have lickle babies everywhere" it's all the more impacting when they don't.

The first rule in story telling is that there aren't any rules... what made HDM stick out was that the ending WASN'T happily ever after... and I'm glad it wasn't.

When I first read TASG I remember reading the end over and over again too, looking for a loop hole :p Anyway, at first I was totally bummed out by the end, but then I came to accept it, and realized it ended in the best possible way ^_^

First of all: I'm sorry if I came off as presumptuous with my 'rules'. They're mostly just a joke, and a cliched formula that me and my friends found most really good stories fall into. It's not like I hate books that don't follow them or anything! I was just shocked that TAS shattered most of them so completely and was still the best story I ever read.

Personally, I think the story is definitely the best ending ever. Even though it makes me throw tantrums.

...

I think the fact that the ending was different from the ususal "happily ever after" ending made it even better. The fact that it was unexpected made it even more powerful, in my opinion. I think a lot of people (me included) were expecting that Lyra and Will would get to stay together, and the realization that they couldn't was shocking.

I don't particularly like Happily Ever After stories anyway.. but thats just me

Yes, it made the story more realistic... kinda. Anyways, as I was saying, true love hardly ever works out in real life.

It made the whole trilogy so much more powerful. I doubt half of us would be here still talking about it if it had been a happy ending. From a literary point of view it was a device by which the story and message were made much more effective.

it would have sucked with happy ever after

remember, they get to reunite forever and forever after they make it through the world of the dead the second time.

thats a nice way of putting it.

remember, they get to reunite forever and forever after they make it through the world of the dead the second time.

Hmm...did anybody find that the part where they go on about "atoms stuck together" was really cheesy?

yeah

the idea's nice... told kinda cheesily, but i don't think it could've been better.

"kind of"? really...

I'll have to look at that part again, but I don't remember it being that bad. I think it's a nice idea, and I guess I don't really mind cheesy stuff like that all that much.

I dont care much for that sort of thing...

Usually I really don't either, but...it's Lyra and Will...honestly I think by that point I was already so into the sappy emotional qualities of that part of the book that I just sort of went along with it.