Mag 200 Alternate Endings
I’ve seen some interesting posts floating around, and I figured I’d put out some of my own ideas for what might have happened to Jon and Martin. Let me be very clear, I fully believe they’re dead, that’s the ending that’s most narratively satisfying for me. But I have some fun theories, too:
1. The most obvious answer, they get whisked into the multiverse along with the fears.
They would likely get dragged along to whatever world the Fears inhabit next. In which case, I like to think that they would spend the remainder of their lives either, (a) continuing the fight against the powers, now armed with the knowledge they didn’t have before the Eyepocalypse. Or (b) they settle down in a nice cottage somewhere, and live out the life they could’ve had in Scotland, before the end.
Along with this, I think Jon would have his power completely stripped. The only way for the ritual to work is if Martin severed his connection to the eye, so Jon would no longer be the Archivist. He’d be human again, whatever that means for him now. Martin, however... he may very well still be touched by the Lonely.
2. Martin pulls Jon into the Lonely.
This goes somewhat with the previous one, given that they would probably travel with the Fears if Martin pulled them in. But I think it would be interesting if Martin gave himself over to the lonely and took Jon with him. Like Other Martin said, it’s comforting. And maybe they wouldn’t be happy living inside the manifestation of depression, but they would at least be alive, and relatively safe. I think if they ever did leave again, they’d also end up on whatever new world the Fears are inhabiting.
3. Jon and Martin become entities.
I really like this one, because it’s fascinating. Jon is as far removed from human as he can get. Maybe in all the dream logic and the explosion and the Web’s ritual, they cease to exist as we know them. But alongside the fears, there is a new power. A power of Love and Hope and Light, and all that is good and safe in the universe. An entity of friendship and comfort in the face of the Unknown and the Dark and the Lonely, of trust in the face of suspicion and manipulation.
4. Jon and Martin escaped.
This one is less serious, but I think it’s cute. Martin used the Lonely to take them away from the explosion. Maybe he returned them to his Domain, before it all came crashing down around them. Rather than returning to London, and everything they left behind, they just... start over. Make a new life for themselves. Jon has always believed the others were better off without him, and Martin convinces him that he’s already sacrificed himself enough. The world is okay, now it’s time for them to be okay, too. The girl’s done need them, anyway, so they can just... fade into the background.
5. Jon and Martin trap the entities.
This one isn’t my idea, but I really liked it. That somehow they trap the entities in the Web’s tape, and rather than let them escape into the multiverse, they entomb the entities within themselves.
6. Jon and Martin become the final tape.
Also not serious, also not mine. I’m pretty sure Basira talking to the tape is a subtle reference to the audience, but I also think it’d be interesting if Jon and Martin were preserved in tape. Maybe similar to Gerry in the book. That wouldn’t be a very happy ending for them, though, so I would prefer one of the first 4.
Like I said, I ultimately prefer the idea that they died in each other’s arms, and have finally found some peace. A chance to rest. They’ve more then earned it. And while it’s heartbreaking they couldn’t live in the world they saved, I don’t think their death is a sad ending. I think it’s the only peace they could have found with the options they had.
However... it is suspicious there’s no bodies, isn’t it?
