IMPORTANT NOTICE: I really enjoyed The Green Ember series (or at least most of it) and I really enjoy S.D.Smith's writing. I think he did a very good job with most of the series. Furthermore, because I really enjoyed most of the series this post will mainly be focused on the later books in the series (Ember Falls, Ember Rising and Ember's End) and as such will have a lot of spoilers for the series.
Last week, I dove into the world of the Green Ember, exploring why Helmer's death hurt so much and how we can have the same impact with our readers when we kill our characters.
This week, I’m going to delve into resurrecting characters and the reason why it usually doesn‘t work.
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Smalls has disappeared, Picket’s family is no where to be found, and the soon-to-be-queen of the beaten and tired group of rabbits? Emma. Emma, the healer, not the queen.
She thinks.
But as the series goes on, we see Emma fulfilling the role she wasn’t meant to have. We see her leading, and doing a wonderful job at it. We see her winning, actually winning, and the rabbits under her charge respect her leadership. The group is grieving the loss of their prince, but they have a Princess to look to for hope.
And then, in the last moment, Smalls returns, taking the victory of the win for himself. He takes the win, even though Emma had fought for it during most of the series.
And Emma returns to the exact place she was during the series.
I liked Smalls during the first book, but at the end, he had been gone in my mind since I read Ember Falls, two years before. Emma was the hero, and he took the victory.
I believe he should have come back, in the dragon’s cave, and died with the dragons, thus rescuing Heather.
Why?
In most of the series, we learn how to live with the fact that Smalls is gone. Emma, Heather, Picket, all of the characters learn how to live in a world that their prince is not a part of. Bringing him back destroys the arcs the rest of the characters have been on during most of the series. If a character‘s death is the reason most of the characters have grown, taking the death away takes away at least some of the growth.
If a character‘s death is the reason most of the characters have grown, taking the death away takes away at least some of the growth.
However, Smalls’ ressurection could have work if Emma had not been brought down back to her starting point, in Smalls’ shadow. Yes, with Smalls back she didn’t need to be queen, but what if Smalls realized he didn’t want to be king, that she was better suited for ruling? If something like that had happened, it would have worked.
But what do you think? Comment below!
P.S. I apologize for the mistakes with the last two posts—I’m obviously still learning the ropes of blogging. I’ll try to make sure it doesn’t happen again...
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