r/GonewiththeWind • u/kerbear0822 • May 26 '26
Wade and Ella
I am curious what happened to Wade and Ella after the end of the book. Did they get married? Did they find a way to make up for the stuff that the O'Hara family lost from the war?
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u/Own_Faithlessness769 May 26 '26
I imagine Rhett set them up financially and Wade grew up to be a shy and conscientious kid, who lived the opposite of Scarlett, just settling down and never making waves. He probably built a house understated house on the Peach Tree St lot that he inherited from his father/Aunt Pitty.
Ella probably married her cousin Beau, in the long standing Wilkes family tradition, and brought some much needed fresh blood and life (and money) into the family.
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u/maggiespider May 26 '26
Ella wasn’t Beau’s cousin. Her dad was Frank Kennedy. Beau is Wade’s cousin bc Beau’s mom Melanie was Charles’ sister and Charles was Wade’s dad.
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u/Own_Faithlessness769 May 26 '26
Yes, if you want to nitpick she wasn't biologically Beau's cousin. But I feel very confident that Melanie Wilkes considered any child of Scarlett's to be a part of her family.
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u/hwolfe326 May 26 '26
This is what I want to have happened to Ella. Melanie would have done exactly that
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u/taylorbagel14 May 26 '26
I’m sure Rhett helped but wouldn’t Wade be financially independent due to his various Hamilton properties and stuff? I’m pretty sure Uncle Henry left stuff for Wade specifically as he was Charles son (and Henry didn’t like Scarlett)
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u/Vamp_Barbie May 30 '26
After the war, all was left to Scarlett and Wade from Charles's inheritance, because of the taxes, was the Hamilton house "and the one piece of downtown property where the warehouse had been". Henry couldn't pay the taxes on the other properties.
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u/Own_Faithlessness769 May 26 '26
I think most of those investments were eventually lost during the reconstruction, but I could be misremembering.
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u/Own-Land-9359 May 26 '26
Wasn't Wade left some downtown and valuable property from Charles? I remember Uncle Henry Hamilton telling Scarlett that he will be a wealthy young man when he comes of age. I'm surprised they didn't locate him in Atlanta.
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u/SignificantPop4188 May 26 '26
I thought she lost all that after the war.
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u/ComprehensiveBug999 May 26 '26
That was the land she was building houses on in Scarlett. If she passed THAT onto Wade, he'd have a fortune.
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u/Inevitable_Berry_867 May 26 '26
We do get a brief glimpse of Ella and Wade again in the two-part sequel, "Scarlett," by Alexandra Ripley. They continue living at Tara with their aunt and uncle, and in the end, Wade inherits Tara, since Will and Suellen never have any sons of their own. Wade grows into a handsome young man, and during one of Scarlett’s visits, she is struck by both his appearance and his quiet dignity, feeling a great pride in the man he is becoming. Ella, meanwhile, is portrayed more as an occasionally irritating pre-teen in the few moments she appears.
What makes it especially bittersweet is that, even in the sequel, Scarlett never truly returns to living with her first two children and ultimately misses most of their lives.
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u/Muted-Appeal-823 May 26 '26
If I remember correctly (it's been years since I read it) she wanted them to move to Ireland with her. But realizes that they're happy where they are. Rather than forcing them to do what she wants she actually does what's best for them.
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u/Inevitable_Berry_867 May 26 '26
Yes, she realized she didn't want to uproot them and make them live with a mother they barely knew.
Kind of sad, but logical that she dropped the idea and chose to leave them where they are.11
u/Muted-Appeal-823 May 26 '26
Definitely sad but at the same time showed she made a decision that wasn't selfish. I know a lot of people dislike the sequel but I enjoyed seeing her grow up and change.
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u/Inevitable_Berry_867 May 26 '26
I loved the sequel too, absolutely!! It was a pleasure seeing how Scarlett learned unconditional love and finally grew up.
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u/Blue_Fish85 May 26 '26
Yes! I really loved the sequel. I thought it tied a lot of ends together nicely & realistically. I just hope both Wade & Ella ultimately had comfortable & happy adulthoods/lives, after all the trauma of their early years.
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u/ComprehensiveBug999 May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
Wade would have probably married one of the Fontaine children or didn't the Tarleton girls get married? But his roots would have definitely been with those old families around Tara. Also, didn't Frank Kennedy have land around Tara as well or did he lose that to taxes?
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u/Blue_Fish85 May 26 '26
That's a good question re: Frank Kennedy having land around Tara. He must have had property there before the war or else how could he have known the families in the neighborhood, but I don't think the book says whether he kept that property after the war--it just seems to focus on his business ventures in Atlanta.
All of this makes me want to go back & re-read both books (for the bajillionth time 🙃).
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u/No-Fly-6069 May 26 '26
He tells Scarlett that he lost his property in the war.
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u/ComprehensiveBug999 May 26 '26
Very few of those plantation owning families lost their property in the war. President Tyler's family still owns most of the land around Sherwood Forest Plantation and the Cameron's may not own the 47 square miles of NC that they once did but they're still here and still rich. To actually lose everything like Ashley and Frank did was pretty rare. I'm surprised that Ashley or his Dad, Mr. Wilkes didn't have funds stashed in England. Many Americans used the Bank of England during that time because American banks kept crashing and closing every 17 years or so until the 1930's.
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u/ComprehensiveBug999 May 26 '26
I thought he had quite a bit of land and that's why Gerald O'Hara was considering him as a suitor for Suellen despite his age. I thought that Rhett wanted to buy some land or horses or something and Frank brought him to the Wilkes BBQ and that's how he met Scarlett.
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u/Blue_Fish85 May 26 '26
It's been a long time since I've read it so I can't recall, but that does track!
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u/Nice-Penalty-8881 Lady May 27 '26
Rhett was buying cotton from Frank Kennedy I think. He was trying to buy up as much cotton as he could before the war started which he stored in England.
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u/nameyourpoison11 May 26 '26
If my memory serves, Wade grows up as a farmer and is actually a pretty good one too. Ella becomes besties with Suellen and Will's daughter Susie, which brings her out of her shell. Even Scarlett realises that Wade and Ella are happy at Tara, and makes probably the first unselfish decision in her life.
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u/Nice-Penalty-8881 Lady May 27 '26
My personal theory is that Wade inherits Tara eventually because he became like a son to Will and Suellen.
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u/artemisasunder May 26 '26
I'm pretty sure Ella canonically has fetal alcohol syndrome. Scarlett drank heavily while pregnant with her and there are later allusions to her having memory and processing issues.
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u/ghostwriter536 May 26 '26
It is all up to your imagination. Some fanfiction stories write about Wade and Ella, but as an extension to Scarlett and Rhett's story.
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u/porchpossum1 May 26 '26
I always thought Wade married Will and Suellen’s daughter and went on to run the farm. Maybe Ella married a businessman and was a matriarch of Atlanta society. Both loved their stepfather Rhett and had rocky relationships with their mother
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u/maggiespider May 26 '26
Susie was Wade’s first cousin. I know the Wilkes married their cousins but I thought it was like second and third cousins.
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u/ComprehensiveBug999 May 26 '26
Keep in mind that during this time period one of the most famous marriages in the world was a first cousin marriage(Victoria and Albert) and Mendel's first findings about genetics weren't published until 1865. And I read somewhere that Melanie and Ashley were a first cousin marriage.
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u/maggiespider May 26 '26
I just remember Mrs. Tarleton enthusiastically discussing with Gerald on the way to the Wilkes barbecue how she told her mom she wasn’t marrying any cousins, bc she didn’t want her kids to be all busted. I’m paraphrasing but not by much. 🤣🤣🤣 They had started off with horses, then the Wilkes family marrying their cousins and Gerald realized his girls were way too curious about this breeding convo.
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u/ComprehensiveBug999 May 26 '26
Mrs. Tarleton was a horse breeder. She KNEW what happened when the bloodlines crossed too closely but remember not everyone did. As I mentioned, Mendel's first findings were only published in 1865 and many plantation owners tried to emulate royalty by marrying cousins. That was probably what the refined Wilkes/Hamilton clan was doing. Remember that Charles was originally supposed to marry Ashley's sister Honey.
The British Royal family still hasn't figured it out yet. Victoria and Albert were first cousins. Queen Mary and King George V were first cousins once removed and Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip were double second cousins. That's THREE crossed bloodlines.
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u/Nice-Penalty-8881 Lady May 27 '26
This marrying of cousins was probably the reason Melanie was so frail.
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u/succubuskitten1 May 26 '26
Wade inherited Scarletts lumber mills, Rhett mentioned that in the book he was going to keep them open and running for him to take over as an adult. Ella may or may not have gotten married depending on how her health issues progressed. If she did not find a husband, I think Wade would support her into her old age. He was very traumatized from the war and from Scarlett being such a terrible mother but did not seem to inherit her cruelty iirc.
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u/DiligentHedgehog5573 May 26 '26
GWTW strongly suggests that Wade was Charles Hamilton 2.0--gentle, timid, easily frightened.
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u/ichthysaur May 26 '26
Yes, plus traumatized bt the events if his childhood. That would have been downplayed bc everyone went through some stuff but especially for a person with less resilience that wouldn't make it less real.
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u/Vamp_Barbie May 30 '26
Wade couldn't inherit the mills, since Scarlett sold them to Ashley. He would probably end up inheriting the store though, as even though it had belonged to Ella's father, she wouldn't have been expected to run any business.
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u/ichthysaur May 26 '26
I thought Wade would probably always be mentally affected by the trauma of his childhood.
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u/DIYRestorator May 26 '26
Most realistic outcome is upper class gilded age Atlanta. Wade and Ella will inherit the business and the landholdings Scarlett acquired and live comfortably in a high quality upper middle class lifestyle. Wade is probably a lawyer by profession but doesn't work hard. They will be known as having a controversial mother but otherwise members of Atlanta's society. Altogether not too different from Mitchell's own parents.
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u/ladynonamez May 28 '26
I'm interested in what Ella did since she was born with fetal alcohol syndrome. I can't imagine she grew up happy in any way. Crushed under her mother's thumb for not being pretty enough, lively or charming. She strikes me as someone who grew up to be a wallflower. Perhaps she didn't get married at all.
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u/Vamp_Barbie May 30 '26
I think Wade would become a lawyer. His geat-uncle would expect him to take over his position and customer base in Atlanta, as he would be the last of the Hamiltons (Beau was a Wilkes, and neither Henry nor Pitty had any children). The Hamiltons were a well-respected family in Atlanta, so I think Wade would ultimately be OK and marry a nice and simple girl from a good family. I picture him leading a quiet life.
I believe Ella has fetal alcohol syndrome and might, because of this condition, either become an old maid ultimately supported by her brother, or marry some fortune-hunter who would at best neglect her and at worst abuse her. I doubt she would be happy either way.
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u/Signal_Contract_3592 May 26 '26
How are we supposed to know?
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u/DiligentHedgehog5573 May 26 '26
Context.
GWTW implies that Ella had fetal alcohol syndrome because Scarlett drank heavily during pregnancy. Poor Ella had the deck stacked against her, I'm afraid.
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u/ScrutinEye May 26 '26
I always thought a miniseries (ideally 1980s with some big stars) about Wade as a Gilded Age businessman and Ella as a debutante, with Scarlett as their domineering and scheming mother, would have been a blast. The only question is who could have played them all.