Which would make a better ending?

[Paul_Tromba]

For context, the MC of my main story has time travel powers with a special set of rules that kind of make time travel less of an aid and more of a problem inducer. For example, anything he knows will happen, no matter how vague, will happen whether he attempts to stop/change it or not. However, he can change anything in the past that isn't known to him but the future will remain fairly unchanged due to the universe trying to keep things in order. He has to beat the bad guy but can't do anything to change the past, so he goes back in time to learn about the villain and hopefully his weaknesses.

At the end of the story, after fighting the villain, he can either

(1) Take the time god's place, causing a balance shift and allowing me to make several more arcs for the story. Mainly where he has to prove he is capable and not power-hungry enough to be a universe-altering being.
or,
(2) Give up his time travel powers and go back to his original boring timeline. Everything still happened in the past, but he's back in the future with all the memories of what happened but can never see his found family or friends again as they lived a hundred years earlier. This would also end the story here.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

I don't see how ending 2 can be satisfying.

 

[Syringe]

Sorry to say this, but ending 2 is probably one of the most unsatisfying endings of all time, right up there with the 'It was all just a dream' ending.

I remember a certain HUGE Manhwa that ended on this note. I don't think I ever picked up a Manhwa for several months afterwards.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

I don't see how ending 2 can be satisfying.

Sorry to say this, but ending 2 is probably one of the most unsatisfying endings of all time, right up there with the 'It was all just a dream' ending.

I remember a certain HUGE Manhwa that ended on this note. I don't think I ever picked up a Manhwa for several months afterwards.

I see. Makes sense. I didn't want to go with the latter either but wasn't sure if I should just end it after beating the big bad of the series or make a new bigger bad so that I can keep writing it. I can see how it wouldn't be satisfying.

 

[Zinless]

(2) Give up his time travel powers and go back to his original boring timeline, resetting everything for everyone but him. He still has all the memories of what happened but can never see his found family or friends again. This would also end the story here.

2 would work great if the main character has changed or grow after the reset. Showing that even if things reset to the way it was before, something did change after all.

 

[Camgfd]

After completing his journey, God limits the ability to travel in time by making him stay in the same time line where he is, the reason he could travel in time was because God allowed it, he was the chosen one who should have gone to times ancient to fight the enemy, now in the present he returns to fight the enemy as something more personal and no longer has the ability to stay in time, he loses to the enemy and disappears, to reappear moments later, being like the enemy He is the only greatest force on the face of the planet, God is so weakened that he leaves the way for the protagonist to travel back in time and prepare to defeat the enemy, here you can also create several stories of him in the past.

The protagonist does not have the completely free choice to travel when he pleases, but only at crucial moments by God's permission (that is, because of the script).

Defeat the enemy with the power that he has accumulated through the years he lived in the past and now with omnipotence practice, eliminate all monsters from the face of the planet, leaving a happy ending for everyone he knows and a new world for everyone. next humans who have to live.

The end can end in that the protagonist, now living a simpler life, realizes that the threat was not completely eliminated, there is a primal seed that, even using all its power, is unable to make it disappear, the daughter of a man arrives. known or that of the same protagonist, this daughter/son was born with a power that gives her the mission of eliminating this primal seed, continuing the legacy of the protagonist of eliminating monsters from the world and giving possibility to a new story

 

[Anon2024]

Literally anything including MC dying is better than 2.

 

[Tempokai]

2nd ending is worse than the ending of the Novel's Extra. That says a lot, maybe

 

[Paul_Tromba]

After completing his journey, God limits the ability to travel in time by making him stay in the same time line where he is, the reason he could travel in time was because God allowed it, he was the chosen one who should have gone to times ancient to fight the enemy, now in the present he returns to fight the enemy as something more personal and no longer has the ability to stay in time, he loses to the enemy and disappears, to reappear moments later, being like the enemy He is the only greatest force on the face of the planet, God is so weakened that he leaves the way for the protagonist to travel back in time and prepare to defeat the enemy, here you can also create several stories of him in the past.

The protagonist does not have the completely free choice to travel when he pleases, but only at crucial moments by God's permission (that is, because of the script).

Defeat the enemy with the power that he has accumulated through the years he lived in the past and now with omnipotence practice, eliminate all monsters from the face of the planet, leaving a happy ending for everyone he knows and a new world for everyone. next humans who have to live.

He isn't the chosen one. In fact, the moment he learns he has the power to time travel, he is told that he was chosen at random and that anyone could have been picked as his powers were only given to sate the time gods' boredom for a time. He isn't the first one either. Other came before him and either went mad or gave up as broken husks of their former selves. He has lots choices he can make but only some of them will actually have an effect on the later world.

I don't see how ending 2 can be satisfying.

Sorry to say this, but ending 2 is probably one of the most unsatisfying endings of all time, right up there with the 'It was all just a dream' ending.

I remember a certain HUGE Manhwa that ended on this note. I don't think I ever picked up a Manhwa for several months afterwards.

Literally anything including MC dying is better than 2.

2nd ending is worse than the ending of the Novel's Extra. That says a lot, maybe

Getting a lot of hate for option (2) like I thought it would.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

Go for 2

 

[Erys]

A wise woman once said:

You don't need to write a satisfactory ending. Just tell your reader the next chapter will be the final chapter then disappear from SH never updating your story.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

A wise woman once said:

True, though that won't work for me.

 

[Erys]

True, though that won't work for me.

Then go for 1, but the MC become Ohma Zi-O, the tyrannical Overlord of Time.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

I need to know what tags you put on the story.

 

[Paul_Tromba]

I need to know what tags you put on the story.

Historical fiction, fantasy, supernatural, martial arts, drama, and mystery mainly.

 

[K5Rakitan]

It all depends on how much more time and energy you are willing to devote to the project.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Historical fiction, fantasy, supernatural, martial arts, drama, and mystery mainly.

Okay. So the key one here is drama. If you had tragedy, option 2 would be required. Now since you have drama, the answer to your question is:

Which option is the most drama?

Go with that one. You promised drama. Give them drama. People will forgive plot driven actions in a drama. That is what drama tag means. Realism is not the focus here.

 

[melchi]

I actually hate it when people get demi-god like powers and thus become unrelatable. Becoming divine is somehow worse.

Also, I think #2 seems unpopular. My vote would be try again and come up with a different option.

 

[T.K._Paradox]

How about a third option Paul? Like say he defeats the big bad and seemingly destroys the villain along with himself.

Cuts to a meeting of the hero's party departing after mourning their friend and heading back to their original timelines to live out a peaceful life.

And it shows snippets of each member's life until they reach their death bed and when the guiding touch of death is about to seize them... The world stops and they see the main character, sporting some type of obvious power boost related to time, who smiles with cheeky grin and rewinds them back to their prime and says something along the lines of, "What did you think the ride was over?"

As they start a whole new set of journeys.

Which would either allow for a continuation in the series, or a happily ever after end.

 

[Gryphon]

So its either writing a concept that can continue the story for a bit longer and possibly end it satisfyingly, or write an ending that just feels more like the story came to a screeching halt out of nowhere and everything ends completely miserably.

Option 1, no questions asked.