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The hero fought the good fight, as best they could, and that fight is done. To me, for happy or sad endings (of a book or character within a book), and assuming the rest of the book makes the read...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36874 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36874 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
### The hero fought the good fight, as best they could, and that fight is done. To me, for happy or sad endings (of a book or character within a book), and assuming the rest of the book makes the reader love the characters, this is a satisfying ending. I would add, they didn't win/lose because of dumb luck, including the dumb luck of confronting a stupid antagonist. This applies to standalone novels, or those with a sequel: The main fight in THIS novel is done, loose ends are tied, the hero succeeded or failed and the consequences are **realized** and permanent.