Laurie, I disagree with you.

It's the journey, not the destination.

Characters grow, and if they do not, they wither and die in the minds of the
readers anyway.  Fairy tales generally end with "They lived happily
ever after..."
but not a fantasy where love may be conquered by circumstances or death; the most
significant aspect to any character's longevity is that they do learn from their
mistakes and become more than they were at the beginning.  J.K.Rowling has
accomplished this with her characters -- if every time the went back to Hogwarts
was exactly like the first time, and each time they met a new challenge they dealt
with it in the same way as they did the mountain troll in book one, where is the
bravery and growth?

Star Wars began at Episode IV; yet after VI we knew they lived on to face other
challenges -- it was logical.  With I, II, and III we see what events created Darth
Vader and the Emperor -- heck, we even know who the Emperor is in II, but we
suspect it in I.

I've read many fantasy novels, and because the characters were richly developed,
think about them at times wondering what happens in their life after the books.

viki

>
> >
> >--- Laurie Campbell  wrote:
> >
> >> In most fantasy there's really nothing risked. There's no struggle,
> >> there's never any feeling that what happens is real, or matters.
> >> The good guys *will* win, none of the major characters will die,
> >> and when the story is
> >> done, it's done. No loose ends, no wondering about what happened
> >> after the story, no sense it will go on without you or ever
> >> existed before you.
> >

--- Rachel's Little NET2FIDO Gate v 0.9.9.8 Alpha