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the goblin queen horror-tragedy ending of romantic heroine Maddy Pryor 1.0 as the only satisfying way to put a non-serial character type in a serial format during the pre-meta period
she& #39;s a HEA character who does everything right except "be in a format with no endgames" so she gets her life ruined, becomes a monster and dies. very cathartic
", in this sense she is a literary mutant; a transplant from an alternate universe where stories end and heroes stop moving. Her Other nature amongst the textually central Others casts her out from them, completing the natural loop,"
(it& #39;s actually only because the serial nature of x-men introduces her as a romantic heroine who lives a romance narrative too late in that serialisation—in a romance novel the widower gets a rebound HEA but in genre "x-men" the 2nd girl is born to lose)
There are *bunches* of romance novels where the Maddy protagonist—a woman who meets a man who moves her and discovers she& #39;s the spit of his dead ex/wife/etc—is like "we can weather this" and they do and that& #39;s that.
I read one where it turns out she was the unknown twin of the dead wife! She just marries the guy and he& #39;s all "you are more sparky than her, she was like a gentle flower, but i like your spark, it& #39;s all about you now" and she becomes the new mum to her adorable niece JOB DONE
Of course this is also partly to do with M Pryor being a romantic heroine and often a scene protagonist BUT not THE protagonist, or even a part of the titular group, of her published appearances. It& #39;s not about her so she can& #39;t have her completion.
a romance novel is very usually not "about" the husband, he& #39;s just also in it. So he realises he& #39;s a fool and repents and her story continues with him in it because she wants him there. X-Men story is "about" S Summers & his many ways. So, etc
she gets in, she tries hard, she loses hugely in a mad glamorous fashion, she gets out. for me...the only way to X.
