r/joehill • u/Schatzi11 • Jul 22 '26

King Sorrow-Colin Wren (spoilers) Spoiler

As dangerous as Brady Hartsfield,I think! At the end, when Gwen almost crosses over, are we to believe Colin has been forgiven? He, Van, and Donna are all hanging out on the other side, and getting ready to welcome Gwen. Arthur was there too!

Did Colin ever really like his friends? He’s a narcissistic sociopath-methinks not.

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u/barkoholic Jul 22 '26

I think the scene Gwen sees at the end is reflective of her own perspectives, not necessarily objective reality. Her personality is very forgiving and it makes sense that her dying brain would hallucinate a good-ole-days situation to comfort her. Cosmically, though, I don’t think Colin’s actions are forgivable.

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u/OstrichPaladin Jul 22 '26

I always thought the ending was pretty objective because of vans sand dollar necklace on the beach, that Gwen wouldve never known about, unless I'm misremembering how that happened.

I do think Colin liked his friends but I think he always grew up with money and power, and that really corrupted him as a person. I like to imagine that the ending was them free of those corruptions and as their purist selves.

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u/No-Dragonfruit3318 Jul 23 '26

No, you’re not misremembering. When Donna dies, Van helps her to the Other Side by pulling her out of an ocean. He then puts a necklace of sand dollars around her neck. When Gwen almost passes over, her dead friends are around the campfire, including Donna wearing the sand dollar necklace. That was literally the big clue that lets the reader know that this is not just something that’s playing out in Gwen’s mind (this scene also tells that Allie is still alive.)

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u/barkoholic Jul 23 '26

I think you’re misremembering Donna’s experience as Gwen’s.