Well, in the original story it couldn't have happened any other way because that's how the author ended the story and those characters are her creation. But this is a thread for speculation
Yep, I guess that's true. To be honest I'm torn between thinking "this is the way it is and the way it has to be" and "anything's possible" - today I'm in a "just not possible" mood, but it's just as likely that tomorrow I'll be thinking "Well maybe..." (and now I've had a couple of vodka and tonics so I'm feeling much more chilled LOL!).
I guess going back to the original story, if either one of them had done things slightly differently, not been different people or different characters or anything, then the ending could have worked out very differently.
At the root of it I guess the original story still has a powerful hold over me, and at times it does feel like there couldn't have been any other way, and that Ennis's fears would have never have allowed him to entertain the idea of them living together, but then at other times, reading fanfic where there's a different outcome or one or other of them says something that suggests that maybe, just maybe it might be possible, I think it might be.
A few weeks ago I was reading a fanfic that filled in some of the scenes missing from the story and the film, and it wasn't so much what was said, or even what was happening, but a glimpse of them together on one of their fishing trips, just for a short week, just them being together and making camp together, and waking up next to each other together every day, that suddenly made me think that anything's possible. RL stuff's been a PITA, but I'd find myself at odd moments smiling and thinking of something they'd said to each other or a glance or something, and I'd just *feel* that yeah, anything's possible.
At the end of the day yes, they are fictional characters, and yes, in fiction, anything's possible. Possible yes, probable, maybe not...but then Jack has a powerful hold over Ennis, so who knows?