The Clan of the Cave Bear
discussion
What do you imagine happened to Durc after Ayla left?
I always pictured Broud dying trying to prove himself to his people after it became clear that Durc would be a better leader.
I always pictured Durc becoming a good clan man and gaining many supporters. When he decides to leave to search for his mother, a few follow him, including Broud's son. I had truly hoped they would meet in the last book, but we got a tour of caves and a repetitive song, instead. *sigh*
Jeni wrote: "I always pictured Durc becoming a good clan man and gaining many supporters. When he decides to leave to search for his mother, a few follow him, including Broud's son. I had truly hoped they wo..."
How could they possibly have met??
Even if Durc didn't believe Ayla died from the death curse (which he probably dead) he'd have no way of knowing where Ayla might have gone.
Well, it's fiction, so I just hoped they did!But, logically, Durc is a lot different from his clan, and Uba could have told him about his mother and how she came back from the other world after her month-long curse. His wife, Ura would be unhappy in the clan because Broud would consider her deformed.
At the clan gathering where Durc and Ura would be joined, there would be stories of a blonde woman who can speak properly. Some of the old timers may even say it's the spirit of the dead "other."
I think it's conceivable that Durc would choose to believe in his mother and try to find her. I seriously want Brac to leave his father and follow Durc and Ura.
That's how it played out in my mind, anyway :)
I wanted them to meet up again, though once I started reading the book where Ayla and Jondalar go to Jondalars home I knew it would not happen.I think Durc was probably very bullied within the clans, though I hope that some (the one who signaled to Arya after the curse and some of the others) would treat him kindly. It would be nice to think that he becomes a leader but I think he might be considered too 'other'... I always hoped he had a happy life though and that he did end up marrying the girl who was like him from the other clan.
If you read between the lines there will be a show down between Durc and Ayla's new tribe. If I am not mistaken I believe there will be another book coming out in the future. This is by far one of my favorite series.
I think Jean Auel is done. The wiki says: " and the sixth and final installment in the series, The Land of Painted Caves."I love this series, personally, but you can tell she was tired by the last book. If her intent was to have one last book with a reunion, she didn't get there.
I think the reunion will have to take place in our imaginations.
I think Durc probly ended up being a high ranking member of the clan and eventualy leader. Durc had the best of both clan and others it seemed. Giving him the memories plus inventiveness, a very powerful combination in a charachater.
I think Durc suffered greatly after Ayla was cursed, and as someone else has already said, left as soon as he was able, taking Uba to start a new clan. The rest of the clan follows or dies because of horrible leadership. After all, the Neanderthals didn't survive.
As Tamara said above you have to read between the lines, in one of her novels she describes a bad dream she had when her two sons met in mortal combat. It may have been metaphorical, describing the clash to come between the two races in which humans came out on top, but there is certainly a story there if she wanted there to be. However as an author myself I know how sick you can become of writing the same stuff over and over again. Maybe she would like to write something else before tackling that one, who knows. When you are an author, inspiration can be a dark horse that will snatch you up and take you on a wild ride at any time or it can just follow you around for years with the bridle dangling just out of arms reach.
Jeni wrote: "I think Jean Auel is done. The wiki says: " and the sixth and final installment in the series, The Land of Painted Caves."I love this series, personally, but you can tell she was tired by the las..."
I agree, I am pretty sure there won't be any more Earth's Children books. I am almost glad, after the disaster of the last book I would rather rely on my own imagination.
Sofia wrote: "Ayla thinks a great deal about Durc through the books but we never hear about him again. I was imagining his life to play out like Durc in the legend. Broud would be such a crappy leader that when..."
this is such a wonderful thought, and i wonder if that is why the reader chose the name.. i think i'd honestly love for this to be the case. he would certainly have a good heart, and a strong head, and even be able to possible use his memories, and his mother's knack for invention and intuition to lead his tribe even better than his predecessors could have.
I was hoping that we'd get some kind of reunion between Durc and Ayla. Durc, having Ayla's genes, would be smarter than the Clan, and would make a great leader.
Maybe he'd even be able to wrest the power from Broud, and banish Broud with a death curse. That would be fitting punishement.
I was also rooting for a reunion in the final book.
I was on the reunion bus too!
Jeni wrote: "I think Jean Auel is done. The wiki says: " and the sixth and final installment in the series, The Land of Painted Caves."Given how the writing quality went into freefall in the last book I really hope so
Oddie wrote: "If I remember right, Creb had a vision. He saw that all members of the Clan died or vanished.If Durc survive he probably created a new Clan for him and his wife Ura."Yes but that was not just his clan. It was the entire clan people he saw vanishing. Not right at that instance but sometime in the future they would all be gone.
Crebs vision was about the extinction of the Neanderthal people as a whole. Two similar species will enevitably struggle with one another for the same resources. it wouldn't have been immediate but even over the course of the series it is touched on multiple times how the Clan has been pushed back by the Others, losing land, hunting grounds and cave sites.
I believe Durc wouldn't have tried to find Ayla, but I do believe that he'd be the beginning of the bridge between the two groups of people. The one who could take the best of both and find the most peaceful way to reconcile the differences because he and his wife were that reconciliation. No matter what happened to him in the clan, if he was mistreated, I believe he would have retained the memory of Ayla and her ways. He also would have used his strengths to take over the clan in his time. He wouldn't have left.
I had hoped Durc and Ayla would meet again in the last book in the series, I was disappointed that they didn't.
Jim wrote: "I had hoped Durc and Ayla would meet again in the last book in the series, I was disappointed that they didn't."Don't give up. How many times did Dame Nelly Melba retire? There will never be a last book as long as Jean Auel draws breath.
I only read the first 2 books. Would've sworn we'd hear from Broud or Durc again. Weird.
I had to do a search hoping there would be something more on this topic and there is:JEAN AUEL writes in 2002
"Fans may not like the one surprise in the final book that Auel is willing to share: Ayla will not be reunited with Durc, her son from a Neanderthal rape. "Ayla is going to find out something about him, but I can tell you straight out, frankly no, she will never see her son again," she says. "That's her tragedy. I know people want her to, and it's the sadness that she always has in her life, but people have those kinds of tragedies."
Via: http://bookpage.com/interviews/8132-j...
:(
Wasn't the Land of Painted Caves supposed to be the last one? I've read several spoilers and none of them mention what Auel wrote in '02.
I just finished a fan fiction novel, The Sacred Mountain by Andy Black. Very well written albeit a few grammatical and spelling errors. The story cronicals Ayla and her family 10 years hence from "Painted Caves". From where the story led it would be an excellent launching point for hers and Jondalar's son Durcan to age to his 17th summer and leave on his adventure with best friend Artibon. I could see it as a vehicle to eventually lead to his meeting his half-brother Durc.
How could Ayla and Jondalar have a 17 year old son 10 years later? At the end of Painted Caves they had no son.
Perhaps I didn't make it clear. In The Sacred Mountain story, which takes place 10 years after Painted Caves, Ayla and Jondalar have two children, Jonayla and a son whom Jondalar named Durcan in honor of Ayla's Clan son. At the end of that story Durcan is I believe 11 years old and Jonayla has been mated so it wouldn't be a stretch to pick the story up six years later. I'd recommend going online and uploading the story. As I stated it was a good read. So as not to be a spoiler, Ayla gets a visit from someone from their past that has met her Clan son Durc and brings her news that he and Uba are still alive.
I was very disappointed in Painted Caves. Durc probably became second with Brouds son and lived his life the clan way.
Gary wrote: "Perhaps I didn't make it clear. In The Sacred Mountain story, which takes place 10 years after Painted Caves, Ayla and Jondalar have two children, Jonayla and a son whom Jondalar named Durcan in ho..."I also have read this story. It was awesome! I think he did a very good job of fixing the disaster that was the land of painted caves. I hope he writes another.
I think it a great idea for someone else to write the ending we all want. I want to believe that Durc and Uba started their own cave with the blended Clan and Others. I'd like to think that word spread far and wide and these blended all sought out the new Cave and blended Clan. It would be interesting if it started with Brukeval. He could run into the Mammitoi and meet Rynec and then have it move foreword from their to a meeting with Durc.By then Ayla and Jondular could have that other son and somehow everyone meets up at Burning Man, I mean a summer gathering :) Maybe this Andy Black already has it started. I will be reading his story!
Gary wrote: "I just finished a fan fiction novel, The Sacred Mountain by Andy Black. Very well written albeit a few grammatical and spelling errors. The story cronicals Ayla and her family 10 years hence from "..."I've read that one to! I really enjoyed it!
I also believe that when Durc is a man, he will leave with some of the Clan and start a new Clan and be happy and may be one day meet his mother and the recognize each other. For sure Ayla will instinctively will know it is her son.
I always felt that Durc would grow up with more abilities than the Clan like his mother. The girl he was to marry was also mixed. Their children would be even more so and capable of more still. I believe Creb was right when he saw Alya as the last chance for the Clan. Her child, Durc and the children from his line was the last chance of survival for the Clan.
You know, after all these years I still feel let down with not knowing what happened with Durc. I wish some anthropologist with an imagination and good writing skills would write a fan-fiction about Durc since obviously Auel will never do it.
Brooklyn wrote: "You know, after all these years I still feel let down with not knowing what happened with Durc. I wish some anthropologist with an imagination and good writing skills would write a fan-fiction abou..."I was so angry about how she wrote the last book in the series that I probably wouldn't even read it if Auel did write Durc's story. I couldn't believe how she took such a strong character as Ayla and made her into a weak woman with little backbone in so many situations. Then she took Jondular and made his jealousy into a psycho trip and turned him into a wimp as well.
Honestly, I gave up on Auel after the 1st 3rd of Shelters of Stone. Hence why I would welcome some Durc fanfic with open arms. :)
I would like to think that Durc was pushed out of the tribe, and stared a new life of his own. and yes I would like to think that years later, Douc and his family tried to find Ayla, and while on his search, he picked up other people who ware outcasted as well.
I always hoped she'd write a book entirely set with the clan like the first one...to me that's still the best one of the series. Forget about Ayla; just give me a novel about Durc after she left. Brun promised to protect Durc from Broud, so at least he'd have that protection as long as Brun lived. I think Broud was the only person in the clan who didn't like Durc, and that was mostly because of his (misguided) hatred for Ayla. I would've liked to have seen some actual character growth from Broud, but it's easy to see him being a poor leader. It's been years since I read the first one, but wasn't Grev...Broud and Oga's second son, really close to Durc? I could see them growing up to be best friends (ironically since they're brothers), and then leaving to start their own clan once they both have mates of their own. Maybe Uba and Vorn would go with them, though that would leave the original clan without a medicine woman (though it would be what Broud deserved...actually, maybe Goov would go with him too...Goov was on Ayla's side ).
I've read the Earth's Children series multiple times throughout my life.. And after just reading the entire series again for probably the seventh time, I was left again still wanting more. I just finished Andy Black's fanfiction "The Sacred Mountain" and I'm so glad I found it. Questions I had about Durc and the clan, Brukeval and Mandroman, and other important people from her past, as well as questions about Ayla's future, were answered so well. New characters were introduced who fit perfectly. There were sad moments too but that made the happy ones so much better.
It didn't have a professional editor so there are grammatical errors and even some small storyline inconsistencies, but overall it left me feeling like I can finally move on from Earth's Children with a sense of closure. Jean M. Auel was an amazing storyteller but she left the series with a such am unfinished feeling. I highly recommend The Sacred Mountain by Andy Black as an alternative ending :)
Staci - do you have a link to where I can find The Sacred Mountain?
It would be nice to have a spin off about Durc's life. He could leave Broud's clan along with his partner Ura but some of the Clan go with him. They meet up with some Others who remember Ayla and after learning to undetstand and speak their language and finding out that his mother went west with a man who she is to mate, he sets out in the same direction to find her. With some Mamutoi friends that Ayla and Jondalar knew, Durc turns up at the Summer Meeting along with Ura. Why not? It's only fiction. Why be a 'realist'?
Wel, l i havent read it yet, but i have found A book titled Ayla...the saga continues by edmund a herman. Its on a site called fanfiction.net. it is about a meeting between ayla ànd durc. I would be readinģ it right now but i am in the middĺe of àndy blacks novel! Which i LOVE by the wày!,,
Kangarucci wrote: "Jim wrote: "I had hoped Durc and Ayla would meet again in the last book in the series, I was disappointed that they didn't."Don't give up. How many times did Dame Nelly Melba retire? There will n..."
omg, I hope this was it. I decided, after reading all of the books, never to reread anything past the Mammoth Hunters. The rest just suck beyond belief.
I usually get this via amazon and although I have written comments I didn't start the discussion. I take it amazon has now passed it to Goodreads. If so I expect the same terms as when it was amazon - no threats of 'this is the last. .. the unless..'
When it says in the book that Creb believes children like Durc and Ura (both mixed clan and Others) are the only way a piece of the clan can survive. I imagined that eventually he would take his mate and leave. They would probably have to because if any of their children didn't look completely clan, Broud wouldn't accept the child into the clan.Maybe Durc would start a new clan of mixed people.
I always hoped that Durc and Arya would cross paths in the future.
I had heard for years (based on some interview with Auel) that she would hear of Durc. But she didn't. Unless you count her having a vision of him during her drug (sacred root) trip in the final book. I don't count it as such.
There were lots of loose threads I expected to be tied. Also, among all the homo sapiens tribes, Jondalar's tribe and their neighbours over the glacier had mixed blood individuals. I expected that aspect to be followed up and show how the Neanderthals survived in the sapiens genome.
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I was imagining his life to play out like Durc in the legend. Broud would be such a crappy leader that when Durc was a man he left with some people and started a new clan with himself as leader.