[Dragaera] On Endings

[Scott Schultz]

I am wistful this week. One of my favorite sci-fi (well, borderline sci-fi) 
characters came to an end. That is, I found a copy of his final story - That 
story had been published a few years ago now, so technically his story 
concluded quite a while ago. It was new to me, though, which is all that 
matters in a relativistic sense.

I cut my sci-fi teeth on Bradbury's _Martian Chronicles_ and Asimov's _I, 
Robot_. If you're generous enough to include youth oriented stories in the 
genre, then I go all the way back to the various adventures of Danny Dunn, 
_A Wrinkle in Time_, and whatever those stories were about kids trying to 
survive in a world overrun by aliens who rather suspiciously resembled 
Wells' martians. That was probably my first exposure to the idea of a 
"trilogy", I suppose. Before that I'd read lots of stories involving the 
on-going exploits of a character(s) but nothing that was a continuying 
story-line.

I managed to get into the old masters as well, in junior high. Vernes, 
Wells, and others. I sailed the seas with Captain Nemo, Journeyed to the 
Moon and back, lived through the horror of the martian invasion and pondered 
the journeys of the Time Traveler. I even received a copy of the _Lord of 
the Rings_ that I made a valiant effort to understand despite it being way 
over my head for my age; yet it instilled a lifelong love of GOOD fantasy; 
something that is often in short supply. If fact, now that I really think 
about it, I remember discovering Elric and Fahfrd and the Gray Mouser back 
in the fourth grade, so I suppose that my indoctrination into fantasy 
precedes even my indoctrination into the sci-fi genre.

Somewhere along the way, I found the first story that brought both of these 
genres together in a story that, even today, still fires on all cylinders 
for me - Christopher Stasheff's _The Warlock in Spite of Himself_. Yeah, I'd 
read the Harold Shea stories and other similar crossover stories but this 
one gave me a hero I admired, and who was slick, yet not phony and who, like 
James Bond, always had an answer for whatever dilemma he faced and 
transformed the world around him simply by the force of his personality. As 
a misfit nerd of a kid even at an early age, that was something I ate up; 
yet even as a middle-aged adult now, I still eat it up. *heh* Some stories 
you just love despite their faults and for me, this was one of the few 
"faultless" stories.

Over the years, I followed the first few sequels and while I enjoyed them 
the way you usually enjoy a familiar story in a familiar setting, they 
didn't light my fire the way that _Warlock in Spite of Himself_ had and I 
eventually stopped following them altogether. I wasn't even aware until 
recently that there had been several more sequels (Stasheff looks to have 
been rather prolific in general), including a second series featuring Rod's 
(the "Warlock") eldest son. So, I was intrigued when, having had the full 
bibiliography brought to my attention, I saw that after a few years of 
stories about Magnus (the aforementioned son) that the final story was 
titled  _The Warlock's Last Ride_.

Well, I won't spoil the story. It was a conclusion to both series, bringing 
Magnus home to Gramarye and a final resolution to the career of a now aged 
Rod Gallowglass, including encounters with his original nemeses from _The 
Warlock in Spite of Himself_. The story was eminently predictable, yet 
poignant and adventuresome nonetheless and the finale left me satisfied at a 
the end of a character I love, yet wistful at his departure. His legacy 
lives and certainly the story of Magnus and his siblings can continue on, 
but for me the story of the Lord High Warlock of Gramarye is at an end. I'll 
mourn his departure, but continue to remember the way his adventures fired 
my imagination.

What has all of this to do with Dragaera?

Eventually, there will be an ending here as well. Assuming that Steve 
continues to find Vlad's adventures "cool" to write about, the Cycle will 
eventually Turn and we'll be faced with _The Final Contract_. It seems clear 
that, whatever happens, that story will mark the end of an era. The 
Vlaadiad, at least in its current form, will be complete. Sure, we could see 
the adventures of Vlad Jr., or a new series like the one I continue suggest 
about Kiera the Thief or even something else entirely. It seems likely that 
Steve might want to move on to some non-Drageara material for awhile 
afterwards.

I look at the passing of Rod and, knowing that Vlad is also a character who 
has managed to not only capture my imagination but hold it through an 
assortment of sequels and a continual morphing of story telling styles and 
changes in both personality and context; I wonder just how I'll feel about 
HIS eventual passing on to the final rest that awaits a beloved character 
who has finished his final tale. I don't see myself writing letters of 
protest and wearing a black armband the way that Holmes' fans did when he 
fell to his presumed death at Reichenbach Falls. I DO expect to find that 
I'll mourn his passing, despite the fact that his existence is completely 
imaginary.

That's a funny thing to realize - I've outgrown being a "trekkor" (Not a 
"trekkie", thank you - as a teen, being taken seriously is of primary 
importance, *heh*) and I wouldn't have thought that I was still of a mind to 
feel an emotional loss at the loss of a fictional character. It's a little 
surprising to find out that some part of me still reacts to at least the 
best-loved characters in my reading life as if the loss is "real". In a way, 
though, I'm looking forward to it. It feels good knowing that Rod 
Gallowglass had a full life and a final resolution to his life and his 
story. I expect no less for Vlad Taltos. The true "crime" might be that his 
story would simply end, unfinished, with the reader left to decide for 
herself the final measure of his life. I like Vlad well enough that I think 
his story SHOULD have an ending worthy of him and, like the Cycle that rules 
both the Empire and his life, should bring him full circle to his origins as 
part of his final resolution.

While I wish I had something more philosophical and important to say about 
it, I mostly just wanted to share my feelings with you fellow readers in the 
hopes that you might have a glimmer of what I mean. I'll miss Vlad and his 
friends but I also look forward to saying goodbye when the time comes. If 
that sounds contradictory, then I'll simply quote Whitman and say "Do I 
contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I 
contain multitudes." :-)

Here's to a bright future and, moreover, a very bright end of the line.