How Would You Like to See the Show End?

[Avaleigh]

What would your ideal ending for the show be?

 

Do you want to see a significant time jump? Do you want the family to still have the house when all is said and done? What sort of scene would you like it to end on and which characters would be featured? Does next season seem like the right time to end the show or would you like to see it go on for another season or so? Does anything in particular have to happen between now and the final episode for you to not feel disappointed in the show overall?

[Avaleigh]

I'd personally like to see the show end some time in the 1930s so that the show covers roughly twenty years in the life of the Crawley family. I'd like the final shot to be of the house where someone is leaving so whoever is still living in the house and whichever servants are still around can be present for the departure. Then have the final image be a long shot of the house enjoying beautiful weather. 

 

I honestly think that the show could go on for two more seasons provided Fellowes feels up to it. (Ideally he'd have some help with the writing but we know that's unlikely to happen.) I think there could be plenty of interesting material I'm just not sure if Fellowes is willing to cover some of the ideas that fans have expressed interest in. 

 

By the time the finale rolls around, I would like to see:

 

Robert's death. I like the character but I think it'll be interesting to see how the family deals.

 

Mary married again with another child or two.

 

Carson and Mrs Hughes retiring together

 

Isobel

married to Clarkson since it unfortunately isn't going to happen with Lord Merton.

 

Edith married with a husband who treats Marigold as one of his own. Ideally she'd have more children too since she seems to enjoy being a mother.

 

Tom married to an English girl who gets on with the Crawleys. I'm fine with it being Mary or not. ;-p

 

As for Cora I kind of like the idea of her taking up residence in Grantham House so that she can have more of a social life but that doesn't sound very Cora like so I'll be satisfied with seeing her enjoying her grandkids and making some joke to Violet about how she'll redecorate the Dower house once she has her chance. Still if Cora did move to Grantham House the added bonus to that could be Baxter and Molesley marrying and going with Cora as a butler and housekeeper/lady's maid. I'd really sort of like to see this happen.

 

I'm torn between wanting Daisy to make a change in her life and just wanting her to take over for Mrs Patmore since she doesn't seem interested in leaving the Abbey. OTOH I'd feel bad if the last indication is that Daisy will be spending the rest of her life in service. I'm fine with Thomas remaining in service and becoming the eventual butler at Downton after Carson retires but I don't know that I necessarily want that fate for Daisy. They do seem like the most likely of the known servants to stay with the family though.

[Diane M]

If the series continues into the 30s, I doubt that Violet would still be alive.  I think it would make more sense to have a funeral for her (at age 100) than Robert.

[ZoloftBlob]

Fire. And dinosaurs wreaking havoc as they enter thru the dimensional portal that Thomas's and Baxter's unholy druidic union opens up.

[charis]

And then the Blitz happened and everyone who hadn't already passed away from old age died. THE END.

 

(TBH, though, I'm not sure. I have this massive dread about them taking on WWII, so I think I'd rather see the show stop before then -- maybe on the eve of the war, if they must.)

[Avaleigh]

If the series continues into the 30s, I doubt that Violet would still be alive.  I think it would make more sense to have a funeral for her (at age 100) than Robert.

I agree that Violet's funeral should be likely the thing is that Julian Fellowes has gone on record saying that Violet is a character that he doesn't want to kill. He said that if Maggie Smith couldn't continue on in the role for some reason that he would write Violet as going away for a holiday by the seaside or something like that.

 

maybe on the eve of the war, if they must.

Sybbie would be the right age to have her debut in society. It's said the seasons in 1938-1939 were especially grand.

Edited January 30, 2015 by Avaleigh

[ZoloftBlob]

A more serious answer to the question is that I would like it to end before the Crash and the Depression. Take it to 1926, 1927, and possibly end it with Carson, the most notable proponent of the class system, dying. The end of an era- the passing of Carson, more than Cousin Violet, would be the closing of the book, so to speak. Let the war years be unstated.

 

Or, you know, dinosaurs eating Robert. Either way, I'm good. :)

[Constantinople]

I'd like to see some sort of epilogue after World War II

 

Lord Grantham was killed by a stray German bomb that dropped on the cricket field, and George died on the beaches of Dunkirk.  An exhaustive search for a male heir turned up no one, Dowton Abbey reverted to the crown, and was sold off to pay for the new National Healthcare service.

 

Lady Grantham left her husband and was last seen working as a model in Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.  She may be dead, but no one can quite tell due to unvarying facial expression.

 

Lady Mary was imprisoned for life in 1936 after killing one too many lovers.  To date, 3 male guards have died in suspicious circumstances at Holloway prison since her conviction.

 

Lady Edith was shot to death by Mrs Drewe.  Stories conflict about whether Mrs. Drewe was found not guilty due to temporary insanity brought about by Lady Edith's constant stalking, or simple self-defense while trying to prevent Lady Edith from kidnapping an orphan baby.

 

Daisy eventually left service and worked on Mr Mason's farm that she later inherited.  Tragically she and Sybbie Branson, who was studying to be a veterinarian, were both killed by kicks to the head from a rapid donkey they were tending to.

 

Mrs Patmore bled to death after accidentally cutting herself while trying to carve her nephew's name on the local war memorial.

 

John & Anna Bates, sick of being persecuted by the police, emigrated to America.  Their son Norman is a lovely boy and a great help around the motel that they run.

 

Harold Levinson lost everything in the stock market crash of 1929.  His cook Ivy is thought to have died of starvation on the streets of New York.

 

Sarah Bunting emigrated to Russia, mouthed off during a May Day parade and was last seen on a train heading towards Kolyma.

 

On the bright side, it turns out Matthew isn't dead.

 

After the accident, Dr Clarkson consulted with a specialist, who thought it was just a bone bruise.  However, Clarkson was afraid to give everyone false hope so he said that Matthew was dead with no hope of recovery.  Fortunately, Matthew is now fully recovered and in full health.

Edited January 30, 2015 by Constantinople

[ZoloftBlob]

After the accident, Dr Clarkson consulted with a specialist, who thought it was just a bone bruise.  However, Clarkson was afraid to give everyone false hope so he said that Matthew was dead with no hope of recovery.  Fortunately, Matthew is now fully recovered and in full health.

 

In fairness, this is about Clarkson's level of misdiagnosis when it comes to Matthew.

[majormama]

John & Anna Bates, sick of being persecuted by the police, emigrated to America.  Their son Norman is a lovely boy and a great help around the motel that they run.

 

 

 

BAHAHAHA! All of those were great, but this had me in stitches!

[Andorra]

For me the show should start next year in spring 1926. They normally cover 2 years in one season and this season they covered only 1924.

 

So skip 1925 and start the show in 1926.

 

Mrs Hughes and Carson aren't married yet, but they're not in a hurry. They can talk at the beginning of the series why they waited to do so. Maybe because there was still the cloud hanging over the Bates' heads?

 

The Green murder gets resolved in the first episode. It's probably not very spectacular, but the main thing is that it is finally over. Anna and Bates plan to leave and open a motel.

 

The new agent of the house is Bertie Pelham and there's a romance forming between him and Edith. She is reluctant, because she doesn't dare to tell him about Marigold and he interpretes it as uninterested, but in reality she is very smitten with him and in the end they will end up happily married and  moving to the agent's house.

 

Tom could come back right away in the first or second episode, he would have had over a year in the US, could have been successful and come over for a visit, to open an English branch for his cousin's business, and/or - and that would be my theme for S6 - because Robert is ill and he wants to see Sybbie again.

 

Robert would die in the first half of series 6 and it should all be about Mary finding her place as the new mistress of Downton.

 

Tom would help her, he would also start a new English branch for his brother's business though. Since he's in cars, he would work together with Henry Talbot so Mary would meet him anew, too.

 

Henry Talbot would be endgame for Mary.

 

Tom would either meet a lovely woman in England, or he would bring back an Irish American fiancé with him. I prefer to see when he meets her, but I think Irish American would be a logical choice for him.

 

Mrs Patmore will end up with Mr Mason

 

Daisy will stay and take Mrs Patmore's job, but will alway have the prospect of inheriting the farm later.

 

Mrs Hughes and Carson will leave the house at the end of the show and get married and Thomas will stay as Butler.

 

I would like Isobel to marry Merton. I like him so much and I think she's making a mistake.

 

The house will still be in the family's hands, but it will have a much smaller staff.

[saki]

It won't happen but I would really like (in the sense of thinking that it would be a powerful choice) George to die in WW2 in the epilogue.  I guess I think one of the flaws of the show has been how insulated the family have been by external events and I think the heir dying in WW2 would be a really interesting ending.

 

I don't want them to do more time jumps, they are getting kind of silly now - they make no effort to age any of the actors and don't really make the storylines realistic (so, Gillingham and Blake have spent 2 years hanging around Mary? really?)

[Avaleigh]

It won't happen but I would really like (in the sense of thinking that it would be a powerful choice) George to die in WW2 in the epilogue.  I guess I think one of the flaws of the show has been how insulated the family have been by external events and I think the heir dying in WW2 would be a really interesting ending.

 

I don't want them to do more time jumps, they are getting kind of silly now - they make no effort to age any of the actors and don't really make the storylines realistic (so, Gillingham and Blake have spent 2 years hanging around Mary? really?)

I don't really have a problem with the ages of the actors vs their characters. Mary and Michelle are almost the same age. Elizabeth McGovern is only three years younger than Cora, Hugh is younger than Elizabeth, and Robert is supposed to be a couple of years older than Cora but I don't have much of a problem buying Robert being in his late fifties. Maggie is two years younger than Violet. Phyllis Logan is about three years younger than Mrs Hughes. Laura is a few years younger than Edith but I don't find it hard to believe that she's supposed to be in her early thirties.

[ZoloftBlob]

I thought the age thing was more a reference to how the show began in 1912, its now 13 years later, and hardly anyone looks to have aged at all. Jumping even farther ahead without any characters dying or showing their advancing years - Carson, Robert, Bates,Hughes, Patmore, Cora, Isobel and Violet in particular are all characters who were at relatively advanced years for 1912 to begin with

[Andorra]

I read it all the time that "no one has aged", but if you watch the first episodes, I think it's very visible how much the characters have aged since then! Look at Cora for example!

 

And the men, too! Look at Tom, he looked SO much younger in series 1. Tom is now exactly Allen's age and they have him a bit heavier and looking much more mature than he was in series 1. And when you look at pictures of Allen from 2010 and now, there is not that much difference. It's definitely good Make up work.  Same with Thomas. Rob is so much thinner in real life than Thomas is on the show. They give the men bigger suits and they look a bit more chunky that way, which would be normal after 12 years.

 

The same with Cora. EMG looked pretty much the same in 2010 as she does now and she looks much older on the show now than she did in series 1.

[saki]

I thought the age thing was more a reference to how the show began in 1912, its now 13 years later, and hardly anyone looks to have aged at all. Jumping even farther ahead without any characters dying or showing their advancing years - Carson, Robert, Bates,Hughes, Patmore, Cora, Isobel and Violet in particular are all characters who were at relatively advanced years for 1912 to begin with

 

Yes, exactly, I don't think most of the cast look 13 years older than they did in the first series.  I think they've done a better job with the men than the women - doubtless because they don't want to make the female characters look less attractive.  In particular, I think Mary, Edith, Daisy and Anna look 5 years older at most!

 

But, for me, it's also that I don't feel like they do anything useful with these jumps - the plotlines don't actually move on at all in the meantime - so what's the point?

[Andorra]

 

But, for me, it's also that I don't feel like they do anything useful with these jumps - the plotlines don't actually move on at all in the meantime - so what's the point?

 

I think Julian Fellows wants to get to certain points in history though. He said in an interview about series 6 that he is looking forward to see the "Charleston come to Downton if we move the show into 1926". In 1926 also was the big general strike, which would affect Downton.

[Tetraneutron]

It's tricky. The problem with finding an ending for the show is there are two conflicting things it has to accomplish. The first is having our fluffy drawing-room soap end on a "happily ever after" note. The second is that events take us to the Depression, rise of fascism, WW2, and then the modern era that results in basically every old family losing its land and money. How do they show Robert and Mary (the main characters) achieving their goals and having everything work out when the whole point is the world moves away from the era in which they ruled? On the other hand, it doesn't fit the tone of the show to have the house be sold to a Sir Richard Carlisle but foreign, or to a government body.

 

So I'm stuck. But I think it should end soonish. Maybe, everyone moves away, Robert dies, and Mary and her new husband become the owners of Downton and set about modernising it. With hardly any staff.

[Eegah]

Molsely finally snaps and plays out the last act of Django Unchained on the place.

[Constantinople]

Rose converts to Judaism, marries Atticus, they move to Palestine and live in a kibbutz.

Edited February 2, 2015 by Constantinople

[Avaleigh]

Yes, exactly, I don't think most of the cast look 13 years older than they did in the first series.  I think they've done a better job with the men than the women - doubtless because they don't want to make the female characters look less attractive.  In particular, I think Mary, Edith, Daisy and Anna look 5 years older at most!

 

But, for me, it's also that I don't feel like they do anything useful with these jumps - the plotlines don't actually move on at all in the meantime - so what's the point?

The thing with making the characters look significantly older is that most of them are currently of a similar age with their characters so it doesn't make sense to do any noticeable aging in most cases. They all started off playing characters who were younger than they were at the time so I can see why showrunners are resistant to aging the actors because for most of them it simply isn't necessary yet and the natural aging process is enough. Daisy was likely supposed to be a teenager when we first meet her so now Sophia is the perfect age. Anna is about 26 when we first meet her while Joanne was 29 and now Anna is about 38 with Joanne turning 35 ths year. When Michelle started she was playing a character who was eight years younger and now she and Mary are the exact same age.

Honestly, I feel like there were bigger age discrepancies on 90210.

[DeepRunner]

Here is how I would like to see the show end:

 

The change in inheritance laws leaves Downton Abbey in Mary's hands, but is not a Y-chromosome magnet and Mary ends up like Norma Desmond, sitting alone in the Big House. I would like to see Anna and Bates happy. I would like to see Edith married, with Marigold. I would like some of the old characters (Gwen, O'Brien, Martha, Harold, Madeline Allsopp) to pass through the Abbey one more time. I would also like to see some folks like Judi Dench, Claudie Blakley, Laurence Fox, Michael Gambon, and Julia Sawalha go through before the final credits roll. 

 

I would like to see Daisy go to Mr. Mason's farm. I would like to see Carson and Sgt. Elsie married, but not to each other. As much as I really dislike the character, I would like to see Thomas find some sort of happiness.

[millennium]

All the characters are sitting about at dinner as usual, in their finery, when a group of overweight and ill-mannered tourists in t-shirts and shorts pour into the room snapping photos with their smartphones, led by a tour guide.   The tourists are obnoxious and disrespectful.   They pay no attention to the Crawleys at all, then follow the tour guide to another room.   The Crawleys pause for a moment, just a moment, then go on chatting aristocratically, slowly becoming translucent and vanishing entirely, like ghosts.

[RedHawk]

Damn, that's good, Millennium! Perhaps Violet could make some typically Violet comment just after the pause.

[Lakebum]

I'd like to learn that my suspicions are true: they're all vampires.

 

I mean, they never age, and they don't allow direct sunlight to touch their skin...

[LaChavalina]

In a 2-hour finale, Daisy decides to strike out on her own and goes to London to find a modern job. She is mugged on her first day in the city, is only able to find work in a factory with a ramshackle dormitory, she witnesses a gory industrial accident, and realizes she didn't have it so bad at Downton. She returns and vows to spend the rest of her days happy for the blessings God gave her.

 

Thomas learns of the vibrant gay subculture in Berlin and leaves the family to become his true self. Free of England's social strictures, he finds happiness for the first time in his life until the Nazis come to power. He ends up in a concentration camp but dies a hero after taking a bullet for another prisoner. With his last breath, he repents of his past misdeeds.

 

Edith, galvanized by Gregson's death, uses her editorial position to speak out against Hitler's rise to power. Her eloquence and persistence in lobbying against appeasement earns her the attention of Winston Chuchill. She leads a ladies' group during the war and, after, is rewarded with a government position that offers her respect and fulfillment. Marigold, inspired by her mother, goes to university, finds a career, and marries well.

 

The rest of the family is left almost broke after the depression and the war, a result of poor real estate investments. George fights in WWII but is shot and will live out the rest of his days as an invalid. Mary, long since abandoned by all of her suitors (who've realized she is an unpleasant, self-centered, middle aged woman), is able to keep Downton by selling off most of the family's land and antiquities. She ends her days living in the shell of the abbey, tending to her invalid son.

 

Violet and Isobel walk into the sunset together, discussing the future.

[Avaleigh]

La Chavalina, I love your thoughts on Edith. To me that would be ideal. 

 

Millenium, I like your idea but for me it's too heartbreaking because I want the house to stay in the Crawley family. I want them to be one of the few families to make it work after WWII. My fingers are crossed that Fellowes feels that way too since the people that he's focused on in his novels have been modern families who have still managed to hang on to the family seat. 

[mightycrone]

All the characters are sitting about at dinner as usual, in their finery, when a group of overweight and ill-mannered tourists in t-shirts and shorts pour into the room snapping photos with their smartphones, led by a tour guide.   The tourists are obnoxious and disrespectful.   They pay no attention to the Crawleys at all, then follow the tour guide to another room.   The Crawleys pause for a moment, just a moment, then go on chatting aristocratically, slowly becoming translucent and vanishing entirely, like ghosts.

  THANK YOU for this.  I needed a giggle in the worst way, and after the laughter subsided, I thought "Nah, too creative-- and great!"

[ennui]

The Abbey comes to life and begins to absorb the characters, a la Stephen King's Rose Red.

[ZoloftBlob]

The Abbey comes to life and begins to absorb the characters, a la Stephen King's Rose Red.

 

You mean this isn't what happened to Sybil, Matthew, O'Brien, Gregson, William, Jimmy, etc etc etc? ;)

[pj3]

All the servants strike it rich with their real estate investments.  Mary never marries again. Edith never marries.  Fifty years later, they're still at the Abbey living ala Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

[PRgal]

All the servants strike it rich with their real estate investments.  Mary never marries again. Edith never marries.  Fifty years later, they're still at the Abbey living ala Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

 

But with the servants becoming rich, who'll help them? They'll probably starve before even making it to the 1950s.

[SusanSunflower]

I figure Richard Carlisle could bravely rescue the (he's alive!!!) Gregson (thereby transforming Carlisle into a new man with a better "values") to then return him a damaged Gregson to Edith and win Mary's heart and - cue double wedding!!!! With infusion fresh-blood from these two not-born-wealthy men of action Downton is saved physically and then saved spiritually by Mary and Edith in living memory of Cora and Violet (dispatched by some Dickens-esque trainwreck or something) with Robert (like Scarlett's addled father) left to aimlessly wander the unoccupied wings and floors or Downton unable to reconcile himself with the loss of his devoted dog without the steadying hand of the women who made him what he was. 

Edited February 18, 2015 by SusanSunflower

[HoodlumSheep]

Evelyn Napier becomes king of the universe. Baxley get together and have a wonderful life. Nothing bad ever happens to them ever again. Violet and Isobel remain besties for life. They eventually die on the same day, because you can't have one without the other.

Bates and Anna suffer a fall from grace. Thomas becomes Mary's new favorite downstairs person (aside from Carson, who will somehow outlive all of them). Daisy leaves to help take care of the Mason farm.

Robert finally admits that Isis was his favorite daughter.

[Wordsworth]

 

and George died on the beaches of Dunkirk.

 

 

I, too, have thoughts of George dying in WWII.

 

Morbid, huh?

 

I envision a woman's voiceover at the end going through the manor house, telling us what happened to everyone.  At the end, it's Edith...last one standing. 

 

So here it is:

 

The Dowager Countess dies in 1930 after a long, cantankerous life.  Her son, Robert, follows two years later because people didn't always live long healthy lives. Cora remains a widow for the next 12 years, seeing the end of the war with all its heartaches, dying in 1946.  Isobel Crawley preceeded her in death in 1939.

 

Mary died in 1954, leaving behind no husband or children as her only child, George, was killed in 1940 evacuating from Dunkirk.  Rose lives it up until 1971.  Edith is the last to die in 1980.  

 

Tom is killed in a riot outside a factory in the U.S. in 1937 when too many people show up for a job during those lean Depression years.  Sybbie is raised by his relatives.  She dies in 1966, never seeing her English family again.

 

Mr. Carson dies in 1933; Mrs. Hughes in 1941.  Mrs. Patmore succumbs to a heart attack brought on by hypertension in 1931.  Daisy dies in 1957, six months after Mr. Mason finally kicks off and leaves her his farm.  

 

Anna outlives her husband by 20 years, dying in 1959.  Bates himself dies of pneumonia in 1939.  

 

Thomas dies in 1950.  Mr. Molesley in 1942.

 

 

[Avaleigh]

I know we won't see Violet die but I imagine her going in maybe the spring of 1939 and not being around when war is declared. 

 

The idea of Mary and Edith having to share the Dower house with each other later in life amuses me no end for some reason. Alternatively, imagine a situation where Mary has to move into the Dower house after George is married but Edith having never married is still allowed to continue to live in the Abbey in her same room and everything. I can see that tweaking the hell out of Mary for some reason. 

 

With Cora I still like the idea of her moving to London after Robert's death and enjoying a new chapter in her life.

[Andorra]

So here it is:

 

The Dowager Countess dies in 1930 after a long, cantankerous life.  Her son, Robert, follows two years later because people didn't always live long healthy lives. Cora remains a widow for the next 12 years, seeing the end of the war with all its heartaches, dying in 1946.  Isobel Crawley preceeded her in death in 1939.

 

Mary died in 1954, leaving behind no husband or children as her only child, George, was killed in 1940 evacuating from Dunkirk.  Rose lives it up until 1971.  Edith is the last to die in 1980.  

 

Tom is killed in a riot outside a factory in the U.S. in 1937 when too many people show up for a job during those lean Depression years.  Sybbie is raised by his relatives.  She dies in 1966, never seeing her English family again.

 

Mr. Carson dies in 1933; Mrs. Hughes in 1941.  Mrs. Patmore succumbs to a heart attack brought on by hypertension in 1931.  Daisy dies in 1957, six months after Mr. Mason finally kicks off and leaves her his farm.  

 

Anna outlives her husband by 20 years, dying in 1959.  Bates himself dies of pneumonia in 1939.  

 

Thomas dies in 1950.  Mr. Molesley in 1942.

 

 

God, how depressing!

 

And at least we know Tom and Sybbie's fate can't be right since they're obviously back for series 6 and I doubt they will leave AGAIN...

 

Why should poor Sybbie die at the age of 46?? That's horrible.

 

No, my vision is completely different.

 

Everyone lives long and happily, except Robert and Bates.

[LadyintheLoop]

I'd accept the Wordsworth theory with a couple of edits:

 

Sybbie becomes a teaching nun, eventually heading up a Catholic women's college (which might necessitate her living past 1966).

 

At university, Marigold meets and marries a poor-but-smart young journalist; they hyphenate their names, becoming the Crawley-Whoevers. They live happily ever after, producing Robert and Cora's only great-grandchildren and taking Edith's media empire to new heights. Eventually, the Queen makes them Lord and Lady Whatsis just as the last Lord Grantham (only male-line descendant of the first Earl, formerly a bootblack in York) passes away. Marigold and her husband take over Downton Abbey.

Edited February 19, 2015 by LadyintheLoop

[Wordsworth]

Mr. Wordsworth would prefer that Molesley take over as Butler after Mr. Carson dies and the manor falls apart after that.  Because it's Molesley.  I don't think he'd live that long because Thomas would kill him.

[pj3]

Mr. Wordsworth would prefer that Molesley take over as Butler after Mr. Carson dies and the manor falls apart after that.  Because it's Molesley.  I don't think he'd live that long because Thomas would kill him.

Molesley would be fine because Thomas by that point will have taken up with the confirmed bachelor from down the road.  

[Constantinople]

Baxley get together and have a wonderful life. Nothing bad ever happens to them ever again.

I prefer Moster, because they deserve happiness moster than most.

 

 

I, too, have thoughts of George dying in WWII.

 

Morbid, huh?

It would emphasize the futility of trying to keep things going according to the old rules.

Which is why I doubt JF would actually write that ending.

 

Sybbie is raised by his relatives.  She dies in 1966, never seeing her English family again.

 

Why should poor Sybbie die at the age of 46?? That's horrible.

Freak gardening accident.

Besides, Lady Sybil only made it to her early 20s, so Sybbie kicking it at 46 is 2x her mother.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Constantinople

[FredaDudleyWard]

They all live happily ever after, even Edith.

[Andorra]

No way. Tom is going to die not a year earlier than 1975, seeing Sybbie grow into a wonderful and beautiful woman like her mother was. She's going to be a Doctor, works hard in WW2 and marries her chef at the hospital which is a bit of a scandal, because he's 10 years her senior. They have a very happy marriage though and they're blessed with  4 children and they all adore their grandfather who tells them stories about the time when he was still a chauffeur and was wooing a Lady.

Class system is a very foreign concept for the children and so it never ceases to amaze them to hear about it.

 

Tom remarries, too btw. A solicitor who comes to Downton after Robert's sudden death in 1926. A female solicitor is scandalous of course and it almost finishes of Mr. Carson along with Robert that good old Murray hired a woman as his assistant. Tom is thunderstruck though and in a whirlwind romance marries her within 3 months. They have 3 children, 2 daughters and then one boy. Tom is very anxcious during all those pregnancies, never really getting over the trauma of losing Sybil when Sybbie was born, but he tries his best to keep his fears in check.

 

They stay in Downton till the very end. Not at the Abbey, but living in Isobel Crawley's - sorry, Lady Merton's - old house near the church. Yes, Isobel married Merton shortly before Robert died and so she moved into his house.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Andorra

[PRgal]

No way. Tom is going to die not a year earlier than 1975, seeing Sybbie grow into a wonderful and beautiful woman like her mother was. She's going to be a Doctor, works hard in WW2 and marries her chef at the hospital which is a bit of a scandal, because he's 10 years her senior. They have a very happy marriage though and they're blessed with  4 children and they all adore their grandfather who tells them stories about the time when he was still a chauffeur and was wooing a Lady.

Class system is a very foreign concept for the children and so it never ceases to amaze them to hear about it.

 

Tom remarries, too btw. A solicitor who comes to Downton after Robert's sudden death in 1926. A female solicitor is scandalous of course and it almost finishes of Mr. Carson along with Robert that good old Murray hired a woman as his assistant. Tom is thunderstruck though and in a whirlwind romance marries her within 3 months. They have 3 children, 2 daughters and then one boy. Tom is very anxcious during all those pregnancies, never really getting over the trauma of losing Sybil when Sybbie was born, but he tries his best to keep his fears in check.

 

They stay in Downton till the very end. Not at the Abbey, but living in Isobel Crawley's - sorry, Lady Merton's - old house near the church. Yes, Isobel married Merton shortly before Robert died and so she moved into his house.

 

Oh I like your story!  But how does Larry deal with his stepmom?  Guess a-holes will always be a-holes.

 

In my ending, Sybbie is still alive in 2015 and in her 90s (we're looking at 94 or so, right?).  She had a full life, working as a nurse during WWII and had three children.  Sadly, one was born with special needs and like many SN kids in the 1940s, was institutionalized and died very young.  This was heartbreaking for Sybbie. She goes on to have healthy twins, but always acknowledges her first born.  Sybbie currently lives in an assisted living home and enjoys visits from her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  George dies in the mid 1950s due to the effects of the war (PTSD), but married and had two kids, both boys.  Unfortunately, son number one died of a drug overdose shortly after he became of age and the younger son was one of the early victims of AIDS in the 80s.  No heir was able to be located and the title is dormant.  Marigold moves to California after World War Two.  Her husband was a script writer for sitcoms and was never home and had a sketchy past.  Think of him as a west coast Don Draper.  They had one child.  After her divorce, she moves east to New York and was one of the first employees of Helen Gurley Brown's revamped Cosmopolitan.  She does not remarry and lives a happy life.  She lives long enough to see her grandson marry and the birth of her great-granddaughter in 2009.  Marigold died in 2010.

[AZChristian]

These are awesome scenarios . . . each and every one of them.

 

I copied and pasted the one about John and Anna Bates moving to America and opening a motel, ably assisted by their son, Norman.  Sent it to my husband at work, then quickly called him and told him to open and read the e-mail while I was on the phone, just so I could hear him laugh out loud.  And he did!

 

I just hope that John and Anna don't turn out to be long-lost distant relatives of the Crawleys.  If they inherit Downton, I can just imagine them hiring Thomas as their butler (long after Carson is dead) . . . and I can hear him in my imagination constantly referring to their son as "Master Bates."

[ennui]

All the servants strike it rich with their real estate investments.  Mary never marries again. Edith never marries.  Fifty years later, they're still at the Abbey living ala Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

Grey Gardens, a la the Bouvier - Kennedy relations. Hoarders. 

[Constantinople]

Why should poor Sybbie die at the age of 46?? That's horrible.

 

Sybbie Obit Redux

 

Once Sybbie is old enough to understand that she was her named after the mother who died giving birth to her, and that her mother is regarded as some kind of secular saint, Sybbie feels enormous pressure to live up to her mother's legacy.

 

But it's too much.  Sybbie never feels she can be her own person or be satisfied by her own accomplishments.  There's always a sense of WWLSHD (What Would Lady Sybil Have Done).  Cure cancer?  Cold fusion?  End segregation?  It's not enough.

 

Perhaps Sybbie does enter medicine, either as a doctor or a nurse.  Unfortunately, that just makes it easier for her to access opiates; opiates she starts to take to numb the pain of being unable to replace someone on Earth who, metaphorically at least, bodily ascended into heaven.

 

Eventually Sybbie succumbs and dies of an overdose.

 

I always said it was a mistake for Tom to name Sybbie after Sybil.

[Andorra]

Eventually Sybbie succumbs and dies of an overdose.

 

I always said it was a mistake for Tom to name Sybbie after Sybil.

 

LOL, sorry, but then here in Germany a lot of people would have to die of an overdose, just because they're named after their parents. I don't see it.

[PRgal]

LOL, sorry, but then here in Germany a lot of people would have to die of an overdose, just because they're named after their parents. I don't see it.

 

But many did not have parents who died while the child was still a baby.

[Andorra]

But many did not have parents who died while the child was still a baby.

 

Well,I know many, because my parent's generation (in which it was comon practise to name a child after a parent) is the war generation. Lots of them are orphans or half orphans. My father for example lost his father as a small boy and didn't see him much before either. He was born 1939, his father went to war and died as a prisoner of war afterwards. My father also has his father's first name and never had a problem with it.

 

My husband also has his father's name and also has no problem with it, even though he never had a good relationship with his father. He was alive though, but I think this said "pressure" is fictional really. As long as your family can distinct between you and your parent (and Tom certainly does), the child won't have a problem just because of a name.

 

We can see very well that Tom and Sybbie have an adorable relationship and that Sybbie is a very happy and cheerful child. She has family, she has "siblings", she has a father who adores her, lots of aunts, grandparents etc etc. She is not a poor, little, suffering kid, just because her mother died. It is certainly sad that she never met her, but I think the trauma for her her is less than the trauma for Tom or for Sybil's family who watched their beloved daughter/sister/wife die.