Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Good Endings

Today, my D&D character, Kharagon, almost died, and I was okay with that, not just because he's a fictional character whose death would have been as meaningless as his life, but also because I knew he would be okay.

In D&D, as in real life, there is an afterlife where people who do good and are good during their mortal lives and up somewhere good afterward. My character was (and still is) a Lawful/Good Paladin of high moral standing. He was bound to go to Mount Celestia, where he would seek out the castle of his god, Bahamut, and reaffirm his pledge of eternal service. Kharagon had had a decent life, and he was going to get a decent afterlife, so I was happy for him. Sure, his death could have been more epic or heroic, but all's well that ends well, and if the ending involves living in heaven, that is certainly a good ending.

I don't want anyone I know to die, but I know that we all eventually will. Fortunately, almost everyone I know is a good person, or at least, they seem to try to be, so I'm reasonably certain that they're going to be okay. I still don't want them to die any sooner that they have to, but if they have to die, I guess that's okay. I'll miss them, but I'll also know that they're getting their long-awaited and much-deserved happy ending. I love this story and the characters in it, and I'd be happy letting the story stretch on as long as possible, but I know that it eventually needs to end. Thankfully, I can draw a good deal of comfort from the assurance that our endings will be good ones.

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