#allthecharacters

Faith Wainwright - Covington, GA

Main Character

Here’s the thing: I’m a die-hard MCU fan. I’ve been a fan of the MCU for longer than I’ve liked GOT actually. Just like everyone else, I have my favorites. I always loved Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, but most importantly, I loved Loki most of all. 

and Loki’s death was upsetting. I HATED it, it made me angry and sad and passionate, but it never once drove me to a point where I hated the franchise. Where I had felt betrayed by the writers, or that Marvel had decided to give us all a big ‘fuck you’ in the face. 

As much as I hated Loki’s death and mourned him as one of my favorite characters, I also accepted it, because it made sense. Because it was in character, because it didn’t go against hours upon hours of character development. 

And no one can say that the ending to Endgame wasn’t bittersweet. It was the most bittersweet ending there was. I was so happy that some of my favorite characters had come back, that Thanos hadn’t triumphed, all of this. But it was still bittersweet because Iron man and Natasha were dead, two characters beloved by the fandom. 

And people were upset. They were heartbroken, angry, sad, all of those things. We got all of the memes too. But I haven’t seen a single person swear off the MCU, start a petition to change the ending, or hail fire on the writers and creators because of it. Because it fit. It sucked, and I felt so sad for Morgan and Pepper and Clint and everyone, and I wished Tony Stark, out of everyone, could’ve had a happy ending, but he didn’t, and it hurt, but in the end, I could accept the ending. 

Now, maybe people want to view this as a difference in viewership or whatever, but I would disagree. Fans, all around, while they have their general differences, are united in one similarity; they LOVE the story. They’re fans because they love what is being told to them, or shown to them, or the characters they can relate to. 

People were always going to be upset over the ending of GOT. It was inevitable that people were going to feel conflicted about it, and some people were going to be downright unhappy-afterall, not everyone could win. 

But it wasn’t about winning, as so many people seem to think. I never wanted Daenerys to die, I always wanted it to be her or Sansa that ended up on the Throne. (On the xfinity poll, I actually voted for Sansa to win over Daenerys, but I never could quite decide.) If Daenerys died a good death it would’ve hurt, made me sad and angry and passionate, but I could’ve accepted the death. I wouldn’t have felt betrayed by the writers, and I imagine a lot of other people wouldn’t either. 

But the ending they had? Not just for Dany, but for other characters too, it was like a slap in the face. They ignored the characters they’d been crafting and building up for seasons to fit their narrative. 

And I’m a writer, not a professional, but apparently I do one thing better than D and D; if I’m writing, and I have a plan, and I realize as i’m starting a scene that a character WOULDN’T do that, I change my plan. I re-evaluate, because maybe it doesn’t matter as much to them or to others, but I have to be true to the characters first. The ending is always changeable. It doesn’t have to end with the vision that I first had in my head, but it does have to stay true to the fictional lives I’ve crafted. 

I feel sorry for the cast and crew-I really do. They put in a lot of time and effort, and they deserved this season to go well, for it to be their most successful and powerful, to go out with a bang. 

But the writers didn’t give them that, and the fans aren’t about to forgive their betrayal of characters they’d loved and admired for so long. And maybe that’s unfair, but it’s also kind of how television and movies work; you can hurt the fans, push them, surprise them, disappoint them, etc., etc., but you can’t ruin the story. You can’t say ‘actually, all of the things you loved about this are false.’ 

And despite my hatred of this season, I hope it still wins all of the Emmy's, because despite the shitty writing, it was flawless visually, the acting was stunning, and the sound and music were superb. 

But that was a shit ending, and not because it didn’t end how I wanted it to. 

Bayview, FL - Primary Setting

Elizabeth Wainwright - Covington, GA

Main Character’s Younger Sister