# Endnotes explained — The Return of the Native

> Chapter companion for The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy.

## What happens

The author's endnotes clarify the fictional inn's real-world inspirations, note the original conception of the story (in which Diggory Venn was to disappear mysteriously and Thomasin remain a widow), and explain that serial publication led to the altered ending with their marriage, leaving readers to choose between the two conclusions.

## Themes in this chapter

### Isolation and Loneliness

The original ending, with Venn disappearing and Thomasin remaining a widow, would have reinforced themes of isolation and loneliness on the heath.

### Love and Marriage

The altered ending introduces a marriage between Thomasin and Venn, shifting the narrative away from the originally intended solitary conclusion.

## Character check-ins

### Thomasin Yeobright

Originally intended to remain a widow, but the published ending gives her a marriage to Venn.

### Diggory Venn

Originally conceived as retaining his isolated, weird character and disappearing mysteriously; the serial ending changed this to a marriage with Thomasin.

## Key lines

> The writer may state here that the original conception of the story did not design a marriage between Thomasin and Venn. He was to have retained his isolated and weird character to the last, and to have disappeared mysteriously from the heath, nobody knowing whither—Thomasin remaining a widow.

The author originally planned for Venn to remain a strange, solitary figure who vanishes without explanation, leaving Thomasin a widow, but serial publication forced a change.

_The author explains the divergence between the original and published endings._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_return_of_the_native_se/chapters/endnotes
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_return_of_the_native_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_return_of_the_native_se/chapters