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jabmanjoshua · 2 months ago

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Why I Think Nnewts Has a Better Ending than The Wingfeather Saga

WARNING! The following text you are about to read WILL contain MAJOR SPOILERS for both of the above-mentioned series. So if you haven't read either series, I recommend that you check out both.

Also, I want to be clear that this is my personal subjective opinion. If you don't agree with me, that's fine.

I remember one day looking at a Christianbook catalog and seeing a book series called "The Wingfeather Saga," a story where "dragons sing and legends come to life." and where "The Igiby family must escape the Fangs of Dang" I saw that one of the books was called "The Warden and the Wolf King", saw that it had some sort of anthro wolf on the cover and my interest was peaked, I got the books for Christmas that year (books 1-4 and Wingfeather Tales) and read the main saga the following year... and was surprised to find out that the main character Janner... died.

I understood that there was really no way around it. Kalmar and all the other Fangs had to be turned back to normal or they'd all eventually go feral, Kalmar would've died and everyone would've probably turned into Gray Fangs which wouldn't have fixed the problem, and there wasn't anyone else who could've properly taken Janner's place, and Arundelle foretold that it would happen.

It was a bittersweet ending where one person's sacrifice brought about a new world where Fangs were no more (mostly).

For context, It's revealed towards the end of book 2 that the Fangs are actually humans who were willingly turned into human animal hybrids by way of dark forbidden magic that involves transferring the lifeforce from an animal (snake, wolf, ect) to a human. (Kinda like how mutagen works in the 80s TMNT cartoon) And in the latter half of the saga it's revealed that as time goes on a Fang will slowly descend into madness as the animal side of them slowly takes over, becoming a monstrous feral shell of who they used to be.

...And then I got the epilogue, where only a day after Janner's passing, Kalmar wakes up his family (and Oskar) to go on a quest to go to the first well to bring Janner back. Artham recalls how it's been said that first well's water "Heals... and maybe even more." Kalmar says; It's worth a try. Either way, it's going to make a great story." And with that... the book ends.

I was surprised, but also hopeful. Hopeful that maybe one of the "Seven thrilling tales from the world of Aerwiar" would tell that "great story"

...Then I read the Preface.

The Preface in which Andrew Peterson tells us that he will NOT write about what happened AFTER The Warden and the Wolf King. "The canon is closed." He goes on to say that he has his reasons, some are literary, some are theological, and they boil down to; "Whatever hope or longing might have woken in you when you finished the book is far better than anything I might of written."

...What?! But wait! it gets better! After this, he goes on to compare the experience of world building to a garden. Do you know what else is likened to a garden?

JANNER'S PROPHISIED DEATH!!

And then, after talking about all the people who worked on the book,

(Wingfeather Tales, unlike the saga, was written by multiple writers with art by several different artists) Who does Andrew Peterson reference at the end of the preface?

...Arundelle. ...The one who prophesied Janner's death. *groans*

BUT WAIT! IT GETS BETTER!

At the end of each Wingfeather book, there's a "Readers Guide" that asks several questions about the story. (or, in this case, stories) Guess what the last question is...

"What sort of tales would you add if you could?"

...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME ANDREW!?!? You KNOW what tale I would add if I could! THE ONE YOU REFUSE TO WRITE!!!

Needless to say, I was NOT happy with this, so much so that as of writing this, I STILL haven't finished the book. I haven't even started reading the first story! I only knew about the question at the end because I peeked at it.

I found a video from several years ago where Andrew Peterson was asked if he would write a story after The Warden and the Wolf King, He explained that the reason he ended the book the way he did was because he believed that when a story ends with an ending that feels final, the story dies, and by ending his story in a more mysterious way; "It keeps the story alive inside of you."

...

Ok, look, I understand that not every question in a story can or should even be answered.

(Just look how Star Wars)

But whether or not a character is brought back from the dead is NOT the kind of question that should be left unanswered! I mean, think about it. When's the last time you read a story that ended without you knowing if the main character, or any character for that matter, was revived or not?

In all stories I've ever read, heard, or seen, you usually have one of three outcomes.

1. The character is dead and is brought back either by magic or a miracle.

2. The character isn't actually dead but unconscious.

3. The character is dead, and that's that.

Resurrection usually isn't something that's left up in the air, either it happens, or it doesn't.

(In case you're wondering, yes I DO believe in the Resurrection, I'm not sad you see?)

And it's not just THAT question that keeps me up at night, there are other questions raised by the epilogue, such as,

• Does Artham drink the water and give up his bird features?

• Does Leeli drink the water and get her leg healed?

• If the water DOESN'T work, how will they handle it?

• If it does work, Do Sara and Janner FINALLY get hitched?

How can this feel like a satisfying ending when there's at least FIVE MAJOR QUESTIONS at the end of it! I feel like Hazel Grace in "The Fault in our Stars" and reading the Preface is like meeting the author guy in Amsterdam!

Now, just to be clear, I'm not saying that that Andrew Peterson is NEARLY as much of a jerk as that guy, in fact I believe that most of the way the Preface comes off was likely an oversight on his part.

I'm just saying that that's how it FELT reading it.

One of the things that bugs me about all this is the fact that, as mentioned earlier, Andrew has his reasons for "closing the canon" but doesn't really share what those reasons are. (save for the video I mentioned earlier)

Sure we have that video that, to some extent at least gives us the literary reason, but what about the theological reasons? why don't get those? And if the reasons boil down to; "I'm not comfortable magically bringing a dead kid back to life." Then I have to ask... WHY DID YOU BOTHER WRITING THIS EPILOGUE IF YOU WEREN'T COMFORTABLE WITH WHERE IT GOES!?!?

It makes me feel like Andrew wanted to have his cake and eat it too, He wants us to feel hopeful that Janner comes back but doesn't want to ACTUALLY bring him back because then his dying won't be sad anymore because we'll know he comes back afterward. So he ends it ambiguously so WE decide where the story goes.

On paper this might sound like a good idea, except for one problem.

By writing the story this way we're left with TWO alternate endings that are both plausible.

To explain why I don't like this, let's look at an example of alternate endings.

The Neverhood, This point-and-click PC game has three endings.

• One where Klaymen falls down a hole into the abyss.

• One where Klaymen puts on The Neverhood Crown, gets corrupted, and knocks out his brother Klogg.

• And one where Klaymen does the right thing and saves the world.

And while all three of these endings are interesting and entertaining on their own, at the end of the day, only one of them matters. The one where Klaymen saves the day, because it's the one the the sequel, Skullmonkeys takes place after. the other two are entertaining and nothing more.

And when you have a case like Star Fox Command, where there's NINE different endings and NONE of them are definitive, not only do the endings become meaningless, but so does the story. What's the point of experiencing the story if there's no proper ending to wrap it up?

Andrew wanted this ending to keep the story alive inside the reader. but not only does it raise too many questions to give it any sense of finality, because I'm still thinking about the story, I have other questions in my mind like;

• Why does Artham's girlfriend have two different names?

• Why wasn't the well water used to fix Leeli's leg back in book 2 when everyone was on the run?

• Why does the Flordid Sword when rallying a group of people say that the Fangs are "Heartless and soulless despite the fact that Kalmar pretty much contradicts that?

• Why does the fact that the Fangs used to be humans mean next to NOTHING until Gnag is defeated?

• If the well water has the power to undo Fangishness, then why wasn't THAT used instead of reverse engineering the melding spell? (IT'S NEAR CLOVENFAST FOR PETE'S SAKE!!)

• Why does Sara find Janner at the last minute after he's already dead?

You know, it sucks because I don't hate The Wingfeather Saga, I actually quite enjoyed it.

I liked the world building, the characters, the lore, the surprisingly intense action, the drama, the story involving a family that works together to survive, the music Andrew Peterson and Kurt Heinecke have made for the series is AMAZING!

I just wish the ending was handled a little differently.

...

But you know what series DID do things differently?

Nnewts.

Nnewts is a trilogy of graphic novels by Doug TenNapel creator of the game with funny million dollar worm man, and they tell the story Herk, a newt with small legs that escapes from his village when it gets savagely attacked by evil reptilian creatures called Lizzarks.

Long story short over the course of the trilogy it's revealed that the Lizzarks are actually Newts (and in some cases other animals) that have been corrupted by a substance called Black Mudd. There is however, a Beauty spell that has the power not only to undo the corruption, but also save the world, not just from the Snake Lord, but also from an entity known as the Chillinwrath. But, as you might have guessed, the spell comes at a cost, it kills Herk upon using it as he has to put his soul into it in order to destroy the Chillingwrath.

Now, you might have noticed some similarities between Nnewts and the Wingfeather Saga, but there are some important differences, most important (and the whole point of this... writing... report... blog... whether) how it all ends.

We story moves forward just a little bit to show how Herk's sacrifice changed the world. As opposed to The Wingfeather Saga, which bearly gets passed one day before hitting us with the epilogue. There's a moment where Herk's foster mom holds out hope the Herk might come back, it doesn't tease a possible magical revival. What we DO get to see is Herk in the afterlife, with his friends and family that passed on, able to see how his actions made a difference. He sees how everyone is living a new better life in their new underwater city, and he sees his girlfriend, Launa, who despite never getting her legs restored like his were once, she's able to live a life free of her wheelchair anyway by swimming in her new underwater kingdom. and even though they are worlds apart, Herk is able to find peace, wholeness, and happiness with his family and Orion.

Now, why I personally feel this ending does infinitely better than The Wingfeather Saga's is because Doug touches on something that Andrew seems to avoid despite it being practically at the epicenter of the faith their stories are written for.

Eternity.

We never see Herk resurrected, he doesn't magically come back through healing water or some sort of magic spell, Instead we see him in the afterlife, in eternity.

I didn't notice it as I was reading The Wingfeather Saga, but after I read Nnewts and as I looked back, I noticed that The Wingfeather Saga doesn't EVER mention of any afterlife, Heaven or otherwise. sure, there's maybe a brief descriptive sentence or two in the heat of the moment during Janner's death, but even then there's no assurance that Janner went on to a better place. We have mourning, we see Kalmar rename everyone who was returned to normal, we get a song from Armulyn the Bard, and then, the very next morning, the epilogue.

The story really doesn't give you any time to take in the fact that Janner is dead before saying, Hey, remember the first well? LET'S GO GET JANNER BACK!

And because of how it handles this, it doesn't give anyone, the reader, or the characters in the story any proper closure.

It's almost like watching a show like Spectacular Spiderman or Sonic the Hedgehog the Animated Series (I refuse to call it Sonic SatAM) where you get to the end and you have that final scene that reminds you that more was supposed to happen, that show wasn't really over but for reasons beyond the writer's control, never gets to go there because the show was canceled.

Except with The Wingfeather Saga, the story wasn't canceled, it was deliberate.

With Nnewts on the other hand, we see that even though Herk stays dead, it's okay because he has an eternity in Heaven ahead of him. Reminding us that if we believe and trust in Jesus, death is not the end, but a new beginning. And in my opinion, that not only makes Nnewts' ending better than The Wingfeather Saga's resurrection tease, but also much more powerful and meaningful.

#comics #doug tennapel #nnewts #andrew peterson #the wingfeather saga #ending #who are you #meme #janner wingfeather #herk #not my art

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