Ever since my first viewing of the movie, I have thought of Ennis Del Mar as a living entity out there in the world somewhere, grown old and in declining health. I thought of him as a relic, the survivor of the two.
What I have noticed since Heath's passing is that I no long feel that way. With the passingof the actor that played his character, it feels like Ennis Del Mar is gone too.
I'd thought that if nothing changes in Ennis' life from what we see at the end of both the ss and the movie, he'd probably have passed on by the year 2008. Even at the end of the basic plot, when he's only 40, this is someone who's put a lot of stress on his body and probably neglected his health.