The Other Grief - The Necromancer's Apprentice Ending

Why I wrote the ending that I did

SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING OF THE NECROMANCER’S APPRENTICE.

The ending of The Necromancer’s Apprentice was intentional. I’ve seen comments of it being rushed, bittersweet, and a cliff hanger.

But I meant it.

There is another grief in the story, beyond the loss of a mother. This grief is the one closest to my heart, the one that I was trying to unpack as I wrote this story.

The grief of seeing someone you love and care for, chain themselves to something that not only hurts them but those around them.

I believe in writing honestly for children, as much as we can, with respect to their own development.

Despite Georgie’s story being concluded, the Necromancer was nowhere near ready to give up on this literal dead end. He still wanted it, still desired it, and yes, even chained himself to it so that he would never be parted from it.

“You have to release him,” said Georgie. “You’re hurting people.”

“I didn’t mean to,” the Necromancer replied stiffly. “I’ve kept it contained as long as I could. These things have a way of…getting out.”

“It’s hurting you,” said Georgie, pointing to the shackles on the Necromancer’s wrists.”

To be clear, the Creature is a literal corpse. It is representative of echoes of the past long forgotten. A promise of power strong enough to conquer the greatest fears.

People will do such dreadful things for power.

I could not write the ending to the Necromancer’s Apprentice without telling children that sometimes those we love make horrible decisions. Really horrible, deadly decisions. No matter how much we plead, no matter how much we offer good sense or love. They can chain and align themselves with horrible people, and they don’t even know the danger they are to themselves or others.

Lord have mercy, I believe the US has made a grave error.

So what do we do?

It is not up to our children to fix our mistakes. It is up to us, the adults. We have to look at our own hearts to see what lies within. We have to face our own mistakes, our own prejudices, our biases. We have to grow outside of our hurt, our anger, our desire for power. It’s not easy. It is grueling work but it is necessary.

Our children demand it.