Champion
discussion
Ending... good or bad??



1). How could they have so many friends in common (Tess, Eden, Pascao, etc,) and they NOT mention June to Day? Like when they tell stories or talk about things that involved June, did they just completely emit her from everything??
2) How does Day remember his mom and John dying but not anything about June? That happened at the same time he met her!
3). Why didn't June just tell Day everything in the hospital after he woke up, but leave out the part that it was her fault half his family was dead?
I know that would sort of be like lying to him... but its for the better. Right? at least they could have stayed together!
Maybe i'm just selfish, but i really wanted her to tell him everything. They could have been so happy. it broke my heart that she found her perfect match and then just left him.
Then again, i do very much appreciate the good ending. They found each other and nobody died! Thank gosh Lu didn't take any hints from Veronica Roth... hehehe. Just kidding. But no, seriously. I'm glad almost everyone lived.




If I'm honest, and yes it would have been depressing, I think Day should have died. That's how I thought it would end, and personally I think it would have been a better ending.
He rescued Eden, June killed Jameson, Antarctica came to help and I think Day should have died.
Cassidy wrote: "2) How does Day remember his mom and John dying but not anything about June? That happened at the same time he met her! "
I assumed he didn't remember his mom dying, he just knew she was dead from what he was probably told?

I agree. Day should have died. It would have cleared up a lot of issues that never would have come to pass (Ex: Him forgetting June, June not telling him about her, and June being alone for ten years, to name a few).. I mean, yeah it sounds brutal, but he accomplished what he set out to do. The Republic would have lost their champion but i would have made the ending better. Sadder, yes, but better. I think i've come to the conclusion that i like Day wayyy more than i like June. (No offence to anyone. she just kind of pissed me off at the end.)
And the way i interpreted it was that Day remembered seeing his mom and John die. Maybe he didn't, and they just told him how it happened. It makes me sad that he didn't remember anything but what people told him about what made him so special. All the things he did for and against the Republic, his amazing feats and his devastating losses..and JUNE.....

I'm glad that June got to have a life after Day, she dated other people, she didn't wallow in self pity. That was a huge plus.

Same. Neither character was perfect but I found Day more interesting that June.
I actually think she would have been better off going off and shacking up with Anden and leaving Day with Tess.
(Another thing I didn't like about the ending, we're supposed to believe after everything Tess went through with Day the dwindled their relationship down to annual meetings? He wakes up from a coma and has - what - 2 people alive he'll remember and he ditches one of them?)

Yes i liked Day way more. I enjoyed reading from his PoV more than June's.
I'm sorry, but i really didn't like Tess OR Anden! Maybe i'm just too harsh but Tess pissed me off (until the end of Champion then i really started to love her). Anden just made me mad when he kept throwing himself at June. I couldn't forget the 5 year age difference and it was just weird that a 21 year old guy was making out with a 16 year old girl.
And Yeah the fact that Day just kind of drifts apart from Tess made me sad :(
But that's how it works in the real world sometimes, i guess. The people you think are your closest companions can change and drift away. Tess went in her own direction and became a doctor, and Day drifted off and kind of just... left for Antarctica. What did he even do for ten years? try and remember stuff about his life that he forgot all about? Was Lu even clear on what he did with his life? June became a military captain, but what about Day? I really wanted to hear from his perspective at the end, not just June's.


Tess would have been better if she didn't have romantic feelings towards Day. She would be a stronger character IMO if she didn't play the infatuated girl who acts like a bitch because the object of her affection likes another girl. Why must all YA novels have a silly love triangle? Well, in this case, love square.

IDK though, with Tess I think it's understandable. As she mentions in the third book, she had nothing else. Day was everything to her. I'm not sure if you're really supposed to think that what she felt towards him was entirely romantic love.

IDK though, with Te..."
To me it sounded like the author backtracked in the third book. In the second book, what Tess felt towards Day was clearly romantic. And that came out of nowhere because there wasn't any notion of it in the first book. Tess could have felt protective towards Day and mistrust June without adding the romantic aspect of it. And I agree with you, in this series, the love triangle was unnecessary.

i agree though, she had every reason to act like that without any romantic entanglement. it would be a natural reaction.

“You know, sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I just ... met you one day. Like normal people do. If I just walked by you on some street one sunny morning and thought you were cute, stopped, shook your hand, and said, "Hi, I'm Daniel.”
I don't even have words for this....

When i met Marie Lu it was one of the best moments ever!

“You know, sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I just ... met you one day. Like normal people do. If I just walked by you on some street one sunny mornin..."
Couldn't be said better.


The best ending includes Day dying and June living in regret, trying things with Anden, but then deciding to live as an older sister to Eden and basically taking Eden to Antarctica and whatnot, like Day did. Day did accomplish everything he set out to do, and he was practically dead. Also, if he had died, the series would have a similar theme as Hunger Games--war kills people, good and bad.
However, I think that the way it did end is the next best thing. Day forgetting and June choosing the suffering is great. The time in those 10 years is a great filler for the end. The last encounter is cute and I think it is a good way to wrap everything up. It also does match the quote from Prodigy.

Yes They ARE Back Together Again. Are You Sure You Followed, AT ALL, what the ending said?!?

Yes i liked Day way more. I enjoyed reading from his PoV more than June's.
I'm sor..."
I would have to agree that I would've liked for Day to tell us what happened within those ten years without June. And I wonder HOW ANY of June and Day's mutual friends didn't even mention June to Day those entire TEN YEARS. I think the whole 'Day Forgets June' thingy Gave Them Both a break in their relationship long enough for them to get their minds, along with emotions, to get straightened out. I liked the open ending, though. I believe that June will try anything within her power to make sure that her and Day's new relationship together doesn't fail. I just really wonder if Day will ever just wake up one day, and suddenly remember every momentous thing he went through with June in his life. June may even trigger Day's recollection of their old relationship together. But ANYWAY, the open ending (with an almost definite bright future)
was a beautiful and imaginative way to end this amazing trilogy.

It was beautiful.
And I know it's selfish, but I need more of Day and June. I NEED IT.
Sigh.

I KNOW IT SOUNDS TERRIBLE, but I agree that Day dying would have been better. Let me explain. Not happier, but almost better. I'm not suggesting she should have pulled a Veronica Roth here, at all. But what she did to me was much more terrible. First, if Day had died, June would have mourned and been able to move on. Instead, she's stuck, loving him from afar while he has no recollection of WHO SHE EVEN IS. She tortures herself for YEARS loving Day although she knows he's far away and doesn't remember her. She HURTS HERSELF by deciding not to tell him about them.
If she had told him, right when he woke up, he might have slowly remembered. Things might have become okay. But she didn't, and for what reason?! A LAME ONE. Sure, "it was so she wouldn't hurt Day." NO. NO. Day loved her! Day's mother died, his family died, but he LOVED HER and by her backing off, she left him alone with his grief and didn't give him any support. I thought this was a terrible move. June was holding back for a REASON SHE MADE UP IN HER HEAD. Having June in his life wouldn't have hurt Day. It would have helped him.
Next, the resolve didn't do it for me. I don't care what anyone says. First off, like I already mentioned, JUNE HAS BEEN SUFFERING THIS WHOLE TIME. Deep inside she was still in love with Day. [Random sidenote but the Anden/June thing at the end pissed me off. She broke up with him because of Day but it seems unrealistic that they ever would have gotten together. They already had discovered that. It was pointless and frustrated me.] 10 YEARS she was in agony because of her stupid lame resolve not to get involved with Day's life. And then he comes around, she sees him, he says hi, and all of that shatters?! ALL THOSE YEARS just disappear?! In my view, this entire ending/epilogue was a hole in that how the characters reacted to everything never would have happened, I think.
And then what makes people happy is that it was hinted at that they would get back together. I don't even care about this. It's practically irrelevant. Why, you ask? Because it's not the same. Day remembers pretty much nothing. It's been years, he's not going to remember any more than he does now. He'll never remember him and June like they were. He'll never remember the girl he fell in love with on the streets because she was cunning, intelligent, alert, observative, beautiful, attractive, JUNE. He'll never remember how they fell in love, everything they went through together, everything they had. Even if they fell in love again, it would be June stuck on old memories and Day trying to make new ones. He'd never love her how he did, because he doesn't remember, and she does. Even if they form a new relationship, it will be ordinary. Boring. And June will still be hurting herself by all the memories she has that he doesn't.
Lastly, for all that I've said above, I just want to address that I DON'T think the ending was beautiful. Everyone seems to be saying that, and I get part of it- how Day says he wished they could meet on the streets one day and be normal, how they get to start over- but I don't like it. It's not beautiful. I think it would have been beautiful if she told Day their love story. If she had given it a chance and let him slowly remember. But instead she chose self-pity, ultimately, to me. She didn't even try. She basically took away his choice. Because I think if she had told him right away, he could have slowly remembered. But instead he saw her once and then never again, so there was nothing to trigger his memories, if they were still there.
It's not okay to me. On any level. I was/am crying so hard. Don't get me wrong, I love the whole series. So much. Just this ending killed me. I almost prefer Allegiant's ending over this.

I KNOW IT SOUNDS TERRIBLE, but I agree that Day dying would have been bett..."
Sorry to say thiss but ..... it seems to me that you have a LOT of misplaced anger. Just don't take this up-the-booty-hole, okay?
-Medina

It was beautiful.
And I know it's selfish, but I need more of Day and June. I NEED IT.
Sigh."
I feel ya..

It was beautiful.
And I know it's selfish, but I need more of Day and June. I NEED IT.
Sigh."
TBH I like that it was left ambiguous because I like to think they didn't end up together given the ending.

Oh that part really made me cry...

She was totally in love with him, but was willing to give him up in order to protect him from herself. I think that's why Eden didn't tell Day all about who June was. He figured that if June wanted Day to know who she was, and she wanted to stay with him and help him remember who she was, she would have stayed.
I could sit here and analyze the whole ending word for word, but I really don't have the time. So I guess, last thoughts. I was happy with this ending. It was unpredictable, and unlike almost everything I've read. It justified itself without being inconsistent, and it managed to make me cry. One of the only books that has done that. The book was amazing, and I can't wait to see what Marie Lu does next.






initially i felt sad but once i saw that reason,i could appreciate it.

Why did June hide her identity from Day?
Why did she let him go?
And then ten years later, I was like OMG!
But the sad part was that he still didn't remember her :(

Also, a lot of books lately have had this annoying theme of keeping things from loved ones to protect them, but then in the end you learn that they really took the choice away from the person which doesn't really protect anyone. I was particularly frustrated here because Day and June had had a similar discussion about this when Day lied/withheld is illness.
Still loved the series and liked Champion. The ending was done well. I'm just getting tired of that ending and that lesson learned.

Marie Lu HAD to do this to Day--it was a huge symbol of his belief that the past doesn't matter and that each new Day is a new set of possibilities. I don't doubt that he must have been at least a little curious about what happened in the year that he couldn't remember, however, I don't think he would have cared enough to look far into it, considering his optimism. Even if he did, in terms of the media/news floating around, June and Day were not very closely related as June did most of her work undercover with Anden and Day was always on a separate little mission of his own. Both may have been famous, but Day was a controversial symbol of rebellion on his own. It wasn't like June was his known side-kick/girlfriend or anything.
But anyways, Day's memory. He believes in living each day in hopes of new possibilities. There was so much trouble and controversy in his past that it was nearly impossible for him to put it aside, so instead, he let go and lost these memories altogether. Many are probably saying: "Okay, so what was the point in having June walk away from him only to have him come back to her?" Well, that was also part of what June explained--he loved her, but he was also in pain when he saw her. By having them re-meet at the end, it represents the whole idea of "new possibilities," this possibility in particular being a chance to fall in love again without the pain and suffering they endured before.
THAT, my friends, is what I think of the ending.


Well, remember, the Republic didn't want June to look like a criminal so they separated them so that their wanted poster for June was simply "MISSING REPUBLIC OFFICER." There was actually a passage in which June notes that they aren't referring to her as a criminal the way she originally expected them to.
I personally really loved the ending. if he didn't remember her there relationship wouldn't have lasted and it would ruin the story for me. I love how they "meet" in the end especially since in prodigy that the way june and day had speculated meating. unlike most stories such as allegiant I really loved this ending


Yes, they back together. Because, I don´t think that final was soooo open. I think Marie Lu told us like "They are getting back together" because, Day told June that She was the piece that he lost and search. And is right there.

Wrong trilogy dude

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I LOVE June and Day together they are so cute but then when she just walked away form him ahhhh I was so upset but then in the end they got back together which was really cute but still I don't know whether to be happy or annoyed that they didn't stay together in the first place!
There are just so many emotions!!
But other than that an AMAZING book, I loved it so much and I may have even cried......