On the old forums I made a post about this, but since they no longer exist, I’ll write something again.
The final chapter of The Soldiers of Halla has been talked about and discussed quite a bit. Some love it. Others hate it. Some understand it fully. Others don’t get it. I’m not going to explain it all here because I’d prefer that readers draw their own conclusions. But I will make a few comments. First off, I don’t consider the ending to be a cliff hanger. Not even close. The story is very clear about what is going to happen next, and that is that Bobby will soon go to Solara and Courtney will not be far behind. To understand how the events described in the last chapter could have happened, you have to look at the end of the second to last chapter. Bobby lamented to Uncle Press that after all they had been through, it seemed unfair that the Travelers were not being allowed to live the normal lives they fought so hard for. All they wanted was a little bit of time to live those lives, which in the general scheme of Halla, wasn’t much . . . and Uncle Press agreed with him. How that was able to happen, and what all the implications are, I’ll leave that up to you to debate and decide.
I’ll say one other thing, and that’s about the guy who delivered Bobby’s journals to him in the hospital. Short of actually writing his name, I pretty much described exactly who it was. From the events that unfolded in the hospital room with Bobby and Courtney kissing and being interrupted, to his physical description, to Bobby recognizing him, to him saying that he had nine other journals to deliver, there is no other possible person that could have been…but Uncle Press.
Brie says:
I liked the epilogue. It was sweet, in an adorable-old-couple kind of way. I acctually thought it was Bobby giving him the journals, but I guess they looked more alike than I thought. My theory was that his physical self was left behind at that moment, to play out the life of Bobby Pendragon of Second Earth. I am a little dissapointed that he didn’t end up with Loor, but there’s a thousand lives left to live, right?
This Is My Name says:
I agree with Brie (isn’t that a kind of cheese?). The ending was great and really made you think… don’t get why everyones so unhappy about it.
When the epilogue started like the beginning, I thought that it had actually gone back in time so that Bobby could relive those years he spent fighting saint dane. maybe that happened anyways, but this idea was better!
Ria says:
Yeah, I thought the ending was great too 🙂
NIC says:
like it 🙂
Lily Snow says:
I agree with Brie. Oh and i liked the ending. it was awesome!!!!
Catherine says:
I. Loved. It. The ending was great. It fits that Uncle Press was the one who started Bobby’s life as a Traveler, and the one who ended it. My favorite part(of the whole series, not just the book, which makes it my favorite part of any book in all of Halla) was when Bobby and Patrick went to see Saint Dane. Love. That. Book.
Brittany says:
I didn’t get it, at first. But my friend, and I talked about it, and this is what we thought it meant. I like it.
David says:
I liked the ending alot. Im sad to see this series go. I keep hoping there will be anouther book, but I know thats not gonna happen. Oh and I agree with brie, Bibs should of been with Loor.
Spencer says:
I havent read it yetbut I own them all. my favorite would be… The Merchant of Death.it was awesomezest. pwnage it was..
cya
D.J. Machale is myfavorite author
J.S says:
I started reading this series shortly after I had turned 13. I followed the series through High School, and now just finished it (College). I really enjoyed the ending of the book. I made me feel like everything was worth it.
Thank you for writing this story.
Flynn says:
after reading alot of comments i agree that it was not a cliffhanger so um i really liked it but its a shame that it ended so
soon okay i started reading them 2 weeks ago took me 1 week to complete it so it was quick for me i could not bring my self to put it down in fact the only time i put it down was when to pick up another id like to get in the before saint dane and bobby seris althogh is that one kind of like a prequel to the main seris or not? and in the guide to the territories you forgot to add ibara and cloral wasnt very detailed and the rest of veelox
Zadaa Ghee says:
I agree I never saw the ending as a cliffhanger . . . . Everyone says it ended too soon, I don’t think so . . . took me most of the 6th grade to read, but in the book it took, what, four years?? so I don’t think it dragged on forever, but it didn’t end too soon . . . . I don’t think that Before the War is really a prequel as much as just background on the Travelers . . . . Still REALLY HATE THE EPILOGUE, but I guess everyone here knows that by now . . . .
Robbie says:
I thought the whole series was amazing. It was definitely the best book series I’ve ever read in my life. The only thing I didn’t like about the end was that it was, well, the end. I hate when an amazing story ends! In my opinion, the best book was The Reality Bug. I was greatly intrigued by the idea of LifeLight.
Anonymous says:
Tis was definatley the best book series. Period. Well, except for Morpheus Road And Before The Road, I guess all the DJ MacHale books. Seriousley, peeople should figure out how to NOT end a great series.
Cheeka says:
I agree with you, Anonymous.
Pendragon’s easily my all-time favorite series. It’s just so incredible (huge understatement).
Bobby says:
fist of all my name is really Bobby.
No i don’t live in Connecticut i live in Hawaii.
I dont get it at all. was Bobby really Bobby Pendragon or did he live someone elses life until he was 14? Were all the Travelers living the life of someone else? How did Bobby (not me) not remember everything that he did as a Traveler? Don’t question me here he would have known how uncle Press was there the same age as when he was 14 if he remembered the stuff about Halla and Solara.
if you agree with me ask D.J. right now in an email these exact questions please the more emails the more likely to get the answers.
P.s. this is comin from a kid who believes (that to cover Cheekas understatement) the Pendragon books could kill any other series whatsoever, bring them back to life and ship tem to the tarz on quillan where that series will die again.
cyren says:
go bobby, and after they re shiped to the tarz they’ll end up on dark solara just before it is destroyed so that its spirit dies with it. i loved the ending except that it was the end of a great series and i want to know what life was like for all of the other travlers. mabey that could be a spin off like before the war
Uncle Press says:
I gave Bobby the Journals in the end…and I purposely left the Garden Poultry Fries.
Georg says:
I from Poland.I readed 6 part of series ‘Pendragon’.By me it’s very good book.I can’t wait from the next part
Alex says:
Harry Potter is better in many ways.
However, I still LOVE pendragon 🙂 It may not be as famous or as sophisticated as the works of J.K. Rowling, yet it has the same amount of thought and passion put into it, and that’s what makes a great series.
Thanks for the great read, Machale 🙂
EpilogueHater says:
I hate how everyone loved Bobby and Courtney in the end. Loor and Bobby were an awesome pairing. I knew from the beginning that they would be awesome together and that’s why The Rivers of Zadaa is my favorite book. But I just wanted to ask why Courtney is everyones favorite.
Anonymous says:
If you take into account the way the book ended, with Bobby never having traveled in the first place and only ever finding out about it on his deathbed — he never actually met Loor and the first love of his life was Courtney.
I’m assuming a similar thing happened to each of the Travelers. They got the chance to live their normal lives on their own worlds and then Press delivered the journals to them right before they died. They wouldn’t know about each others existence until they went back to Solara and met up again.
greg says:
i loved the book. all it needs is a movie!
Rosie says:
There’s a new blog up right now regarding a possible movie.
Check it out! 🙂
eelong rulz says:
well, i understood the last chapter of the soldiers of halla perfectly! the only part i didn’t understand is why grown ups would call their uncle “uncle bibs”
cartman says:
bibs was the nickname that bobbys sister called bobby when they were young kids.
cartman says:
and those grown ups probably were marks kids, who called bobby uncle bibs.
cartman says:
i dont think any mind wipe happened to bobby and courtney because in the epilogue, whenever they wrote to their friends and stuff, they would sign it “The Travelers.”
Aaron says:
pendragon is the bos
Hallaman10 says:
Well maybe in bobby’s old age he had forgetten the big picture of his adventures but he had little fragments left back in the corners of his mind making him subconsciously put things from his travelers times into his future life
Hailey Nielson says:
The epilogue confused me a bit, but coming here and reading all these comments has helped me understand it all. I do wish to find out why Bobby doesn’t remember all his Traveler adventures and how he went throughout school, whether it was highschool or college, after he missed 4 years. But then again, instead of the knowledge school would be teaching him, he learned things way better in the end.
I used to love the Harry Potter books more than anything and couldn’t stop reading them over and over. One of my friends insisted that I read the first Pendragon book, and if I didn’t like it, then I could go straight back to Harry Potter. But as soon as I got to about the middle of The Merchant of Death, I couldn’t stop. I read all 10 of them. They are amazing books and have made me realize I can’t keep focusing on one book series when there are tons of amazing books out there waiting to be read.
All thanks to Bobby Pendragon. <3 (And of course D.J. MacHale)
ali says:
i liked the ending. i just dont understand how he graduated playing basketball and that everything was so normal after all the destruction.it sounded more like he was on 2 earth than 3 but how would that be possible?
mandy says:
i agree with hailey and ali. i would like to have an anser becuz im tots confused
some guy flipped me off today says:
hey
Hallaman10 says:
Alright I think i have a theory, u know how at the end the power of solaris restored and then when bobby said he needs more time uncle press came up with an idea. He might have used the restored power of Solaris to give Bobby and the other travelers th lives they always wanted(given the fact that uncle press was delivering there journals back to them). He might have made the new Earth(being that there are no more territories) more like 2nd earth and Gunny and Patrick were there to but they just died of old age before bobby. So then after everything was restored bobby got his family back made up school and got a future with Courtney. Then the events at the end of book 10 took place and Bobby returned to Solara. If u want to learn what I think happened after that go to the Fan fiction blog and look for my name.
Hailey Nielson says:
I’m not good at creating or making up endings to stories, so it kind of disappointed me when D.J. said we had to come up with the ending ourselves. I would like to learn D.J. MacHale’s version of the ending. But I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t say it.
Richard says:
I think that the end was a complete conclusion but like the Darren Shan Saga, the end disappointed me. The fact that they get to know what happened to them in reality while they lived in their alternate reality makes the story seem inconclusive. The Darren Shan Saga makes the reality of what happened nonexistent such as Uncle Press not interrupting Bobby and Courtney to go fight Saint Dane. But over all the series was one of the best I have read and I’m waiting on a copy of The Light to start on D.J. MacHale’s other series, Morpheus Road.
Ben says:
I thought it was Alder giving him the journals.
Bobby says:
cancel evrything i sayd befor heres my theory
he got sent back to ninth grade because uncle press used the power of solara and reset time to befor he took bobby so thatz y he didnt remember the traveler stuff because uncle press set time to befor he got bobby so all the traveler stuff never happened to bobby thats why he didnt remember so uncle press used the jurnles
so he’d be prepard for solara
Lead Traveler says:
I think, considering the description of how Solara works and the fact that SD is dead, Uncle Press was the head honcho of Solara at the end of SoH. This gives him almost god-like powers since the spirits of Solara can control the world and he can control them. So, realistically, he could have sent Bobby, Courtney, and Mark back to Stony Brook and wiped their memories so that they would have no memory of the Travelers.
Hailey Nielson says:
In all honesty, I thought it was Patrick giving the journals to Bobby because I was under the impression that there was no way for any travelers to go back to their home territories and they all had to stay on Third Earth or head on to Solara. I didn’t think it was Uncle Press because I just thought that he would stay in Solara where he said he belonged and wouldn’t have anything to do outside of it. But my conclusion was way out of whack.
david says:
solara is a place where all time can be observed without obstacles. i think that once bobby finished the journal, he went off to solara, leaving mark and courtney to their lives on earth. then once in solara, he could go and observe what his life would have been like had it not been interrupted by saint dane. I like that bobby and courtney “ended” up together. i also like that once mark and courtney die, they can go and be with bobby and company forever.
Hallaman10 says:
I think that sounds pretty reasonable, but why does it not say anything about bobby being in solara and that he goes to solara afterwards.
Barron Allison says:
I just Finished the Pendragon series and it was hard to let go…I couldn’t believe it was the end I almost cried. Thank you for writing this series and I hope The morpheus road is just as good. I hope you make Pendragon A movie I’m sure it would be Be-Awesom(Beyond awesome). I really want to play as Bobby(Robert) Pendragon. 🙂
Zannettis says:
I don’t care what everybody else is saying. The whole series was amazing and now that i started reading Morpheus Road i believe D.J.Machale is one of the best writers ever.
Challenger Black says:
@Zannettis
I agree. I absolutely love Pendragon. Best series I’ve ever read, and Morpheus Road was awesome too.
Bobby says:
i know this is my third comment on here so yeah anyways…………..
my comments may be confusing but im 11 so yeah anyways……….
the books were great but i thought i saw an error or two like in number ten when loor was crying it said spader had never been to zadaa when in fact in book two he was there it was the first place he went through the flume.
oh ps i live in hawaii so this might have pigeon accent yeah
Allie says:
The Pendragon series is the best series ever! When I finished the series my family tryed getting me to read other books but I refuced. Pendragon was the only book series I really read! So I found the smaller, separate travler books and I just had to get them! They’re epic!
I love the Morpheus Road books! I’ve usually like the movies better than the books, but I don’t think a movie could beat this! D.J MacHale is the only author for me! XD
HI says:
@Bobby Ya i saw that too
britt says:
i think that uncle press like covered thier memrios not quite erased so what bits they remembered they assumed was a dream and thats also why there names were signed the traverlers.then sent them back to before they knew about halla.and they continued life the way they would have without halla. then when bobby was about to die uncle press gave everyone there juornals to pretty much refresh there memorys.then they went back to solara.and i think in solra bobby and loor end up together.
btw i think this happened to all the travlers not just bobby and courtney and mark.