Should Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings? Not Always.
Author: Stan Guthrie
May 14, 2026
On Saturday, May 23rd, at 10 AM, NCC will host a new kind of event: “Whimsy and Wonder: Exploring Tom and the Dragon with Author Stan Guthrie.” Stan will share how and why he wrote the book, the elements of a great fantasy story, a dramatic reading, and a Q&A time. There will also be fun activities for children and inside info on what’s ahead. This post discusses a counterintuitive approach that Stan took in writing the book.
Recently, I finished reading my well-worn copy of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien for the umpteenth time. This reminded me that my new book Tom and the Dragon features some similar themes. In fact, in this latest re-reading, I uncovered far more than I had consciously remembered when writing my book. Tolkien’s influence on my work (and on that of many other fantasy authors) is both deep and wide.
But that’s not what this post is about.
Instead, I'd like to talk about Tolkien’s ending of The Hobbit. The thing I noticed during this latest reading (spoiler alert) is how the denouement isn’t exactly of the “and they lived happily ever after” variety. And that's okay!
I'll let something that C.S. Lewis scholar Jerry Root and I wrote some years ago about Tolkien’s carefully considered approach. It’s just as true today:
The first time Bilbo has to sleep on the hard ground rather than in the soft, feathery bed of his hobbit hole, he longs for home. When his provisions grow stale, he longs for his larder. When he faces danger from trolls, Bilbo longs for the seeming security of the Shire.
Eventually the adventures end, and Bilbo can go home. It is here that Tolkien works his greatest magic. When Bilbo returns, he discovers the Shire is no longer the place of his deepest longing. His relatives have declared him dead and are dividing up his belongings. When Bilbo tries to stop them, some declare him an imposter and refuse to return what they have taken. Tolkien is being very deliberate in seeking to awaken a longing for home. He shows that what we really want is transcendent. Earthly homes may awaken this longing, but they cannot satisfy it.
Sometimes we assume that all fairy tales, myths, and fantasy stories (especially those written for children) have happy endings, or at least should. The reality is far more complicated. If we leave the Disney versions of these stories aside, we will discover that many fairy tales in the Western tradition do not.
Even the stories by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen that give readers a happy conclusion—a marriage, rescue, transformation, or escape—often have strings attached, such as suffering, disappointment, or even trauma and loss. Tolkien pulled this off in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
In resolving the plot of Tom and the Dragon, I did not shy away from tradeoffs and disappointments, believing that they give the story more poignancy and power. While the characters in the main did experience a restoration of happiness, almost no one escaped unscathed. Yes, I kept the suffering (if you can call it that) light and manageable, but I did not completely airbrush it from the story.
Victory, in art as in life, usually has a cost.
Tom and the Dragon is available on Amazon.com. Find out more about Stan’s fantasy stories for young people at https://whimsybystan.com/.
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