Best endings

[RangerWickett]

What are some of the best endings to movies, books, video games, even your own games? There are way too many stories released these days that I think could be so much better if they just changed the ending a little. I first started being really critical of endings after beating Final Fantasy VII, to the point that I actually wrote my own ending for it so I wouldn't be so dissatisfied with the game.

This thread will probably have tons of spoilers. Beware, though I'll put all of mine in sblock tags.

I've been sort of stuck on the ending of a novel I'm writing, and I'm looking for some help getting into the right mindset.

For me, in recent memory:

TV - Angel. The final season led up to such a perfect ending.
[sblock]The gang, led by a good vampire, has been going up against an evil law firm which is supposed run by a trio of ancient demons - referred to as Wolfram & Hart, attorneys at law - and the heroes have spent the whole season 'working for' the lawfirm. Wolfram & Hart have tried to corrupt them, but Angel has just been using it as a path to find out who the most powerful forces of evil in L.A. are. Over the course of the season you meet each of these prominent villains, and all of them manage to get away with horrible things.

In the final episode, each member of the group is assigned one of these villains to take out. Everyone seems to realize that they are horribly outgunned, and they're probably going to die, but that doing this is the right thing, and it's a worthy sacrifice. The episode follows them planning and then taking out the villains one by one, though some of the heroes are wounded and one dies, his sacrifice evoking a stirring change in another of the group. Angel himself is assigned to take out the liaison to Wolfram & Hart (played by none other than Adam Freakin' Baldwin!).

The liaison kicks Angel's butt, and then taunts him, saying that he is invincible because the blood of the Wolf, Ram, and Hart flow through his veins. Angel smiles and says, "Want to guess what one word you shouldn't have just said to this vampire?" And then he leaps upon the guy, sucks out his blood, and defeats him.

At the end, the heroes all meet up in an alley in a rainstorm, realizing that Wolfram & Hart has called upon all their evil minions to swarm the heroes and destroy them. In the distance, coming down the street they see, vaguely hidden by the rain, dozens of monsters, including a towering behemoth and a dragon swooping through the sky, and overwhelming force they have no chance against. One of the heroes asks Angel, "What are we going to do?"

Angel replies, "Me, I kinda wanna slay the dragon. Let's get to work."

And the group walks into battle as the screen cuts to black.[/sblock]


Movies - the first Pirates of the Caribbean. I assume we've all seen this, but really, the "three part battle where the actions of two key PC groups turn the tide for the third group of NPCs and eventually defeat the villain" is classic. It worked excellently in Return of the Jedi, and in PotC it was even better.


Games - Portal. The writing is what is so perfect here. Plus after the climax, the ending credits are a perfect capstone.


Books? - I honestly can't think of one lately. At least from action or adventure novels, it's been a while since I read one with a good ending. A lot of great beginnings. Not so many great endings.

 

[WayneLigon]

The alternate ending to Butterfly Effect.

[sblock]
In case you haven't seen the movie, our hero has the ability to travel back in time by inhabiting his own body at a younger age, the approximate time controlled through concentration on notebook entries. He tries to change things to make life better for the girl he loves, but every time his effect on the timestream means that something worse happens to someone else so he keeps trying to go back and fix things further and further back. For instance he keeps her father from abusing her but that means that he heaps all his abuse on her brother, who goes to prison; he gets out and attacks our hero, who kills him by accident and so winds up in prison for life. And that's the least of the bad things that happen.

In the original ending, he gives up and fixes it so they never fell in love in the first place. They pass each other on the street in the present and hesitate, then go about their lives. Both of them have a good life, but their love is gone.

The alternate ending is vastly more powerful. Using his dad's film of his own birth, he goes back to just before he is born and kinks his umbilical cord, killing himself. His mother is devestated, but she recovers when she adopts the girl he would have fallen in love with and her brother. They grow up to have happy, normal well-adjusted lives, as does the kid who would have been his best friend (who usually ends up in a mental hospital in the other versions of the present). Basically, it's a reverse 'It's a Wonderful Life': the only way for everyone to have a happy ending is if he is never born in the first place.

Very powerful ending and one that has stayed with me for a long time.

[/sblock]

 

[horacethegrey]

I shall contribute to this here thread (WARNING! SPOILERS BE AHEAD):

Books
The Lord of the Rings - Sure the good guys won in the end, but the world has changed, and not for the better. And some wounds can't be mended by time, leading to farewells.
Still the most bittersweet ending to a book that I've read.

Games
Jade Empire - The good ending. At the end of it all, the Spirit Monk (your PC) defeats his/her former master, Sun Li, in order the free the Water Dragon from it's living death in order to be reborn. Powerful conclusion that is well built up by the great narrative.

Starcraft - Come on, who didn't tear up when the heroic Protoss Templar Tassadar sacrificed himself in order to destroy the Zerg Overmind?

Baldur's Gate: Throne of Bhaal - The final fate of the Children of Bhaal is decided, as your PC has the choice of either godhood or to remain mortal. Either way, it was a great ride.

Movies
Bridge on the River Kwai - "Madness!" Sums it up perfectly.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - What better way to piss off an audience than to have the heroes arrested by the police?

Monty Python's Life of Brian - "Always look on the brighter side of life."

Raiders of the Lost Ark - How about that? An anticlimatic ending that works?

I'm sure I have more. Will post again if I can think of some.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

One of my favorite movie endings is to The American President. "As it turns out, I have a rose garden." It was just the perfect wrap up.

I love the ending of Watership Down, tying back into the opening. Also The Outsiders, which ends with the PoV character starting to write the book worked for me.

 

[Darth Shoju]

I first started being really critical of endings after beating Final Fantasy VII, to the point that I actually wrote my own ending for it so I wouldn't be so dissatisfied with the game.

Yeah, that one wasn't great. I enjoyed the ending to FF VIII much much more (although YMMV).

Movies - the first Pirates of the Caribbean. I assume we've all seen this, but really, the "three part battle where the actions of two key PC groups turn the tide for the third group of NPCs and eventually defeat the villain" is classic. It worked excellently in Return of the Jedi, and in PotC it was even better.

I also enjoyed that ending, although I thought the rest of the movie was a bit of a plodding mess compared to the elegance of the first flick.

 

[Darth Shoju]

The Lord of the Rings - Sure the good guys won in the end, but the world has changed, and not for the better. And some wounds can't be mended by time, leading to farewells.
Still the most bittersweet ending to a book that I've read.

It's one of my favourites too. I also like the fact that, for all his strength in resisting the ring on the trip to Orodruin, Frodo still fails in the end.

Even thought it didn't feel like a finished book, The Children of Hurin had a pretty strong ending too (don't worry about spoilers, I'm too lazy to type it up).

The ending to Clerks II was great: [sblock] Particularly the ending shot, where Dante and Randall go from being proud of buying and rebuilding the Quick Stop and RST, to stunned at the realization of what they've done to themselves.[/sblock]

The Empire Strikes Back has a great ending, even if it is a cliff-hanger.

While some people aren't fans of these movies, I really like the ending to Kill Bill, Vol. 2.

Pan's Labyrinth was awesome, if a bit of a downer. [sblock] We still debate if the all the fantasy elements were just in the girl's head or not.[/sblock]

I'll add more as they come to me.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Books

The ending of The White Rose, the third book and end of the principle series in The Black Company.

Yes, the whole series is resumed later and never comes close to recapturing the magic of the first three novels. But that was a helluva ending.

While a non-genre book, Presumed Innocent still has probably the best ending in any book I've read. If you have not read it and have not seen the film - this is a great read. If you saw the film - read the spoiler below.

Spoiler

It doesn't translate to film well because the visual presence of Rusty's wife in various scenes is ever-present and her character is front and centre to the viewer in a way she never is within the novel to a reader. In the novel she is described as present but rarely ever speaks, so she fades into the background of the narration. This makes the plot twist far more effective in the novel than it is on film.

The plot twist in the novel is written so that it is revealed in the middle of a paragraph which is written in a way that you are expecting that Rusty is about to confess to having committed the murder. The twist comes out of nowhere. It's brilliantly revealed.

Still the best written ending in any novel I've read.

The Power That Preserves: The third book in the first Thomas Covenant series ended very strongly and tied things up nicely. It was a strong finish.

Film

Saving Private Ryan. The movie is powerful and still leaves me with a wow feel, despite having seen it a dozen times.

Blade Runner: Rutger Hauer's death scene is one of the finest and most poignant pieces in SF, ever.

Aliens: "Get away from her you bitch!" Not much to dislike about this movie, from start to finish.

Computer Games


The Witcher. Best end game of any CRPG I've ever played.

 

[Thanee]

Not best, but definitely worth a chuckle: 300

Some more that come to mind (totally random nominations):

Dave
Shattered
The Player

Bye
Thanee

 

[DonTadow]

Final Fantasy game's have always had the best endings for me. At least the earlier ones.

Final Fantasy IV: The wedding between cecil and rose and having all the main characters there, even the twins who risked their lives for you. But back before every character had a set name and a movie like feel to them, you could rename the main characters anyway you liked and that personal feeling of knowing them felt more real. This was an awesome ending and at the time was longer than most of the ending's I'd seen in a video game. There was all types of dialogue going on and all the characters that you grew to love over the course of the adventure were there.

Final Fantasy X: I loved the bitter ending of Tidus dying. I really would have preferred to not have a sequel especially one that was the equivalent of mario party.

Final Fantasy VI: The reason i feel old everyday. They will never make another final fantasy like this, and that's a bitter pill to swallow considering it is by far the most commonly voted best one among fans who have played the entire series. The ending came after the most amazing 3 tier fight that envolved all 12 of the people in your party against the best villian ever Kefka. After he is defeated we are treated to an exceptional ending as the heroes lead the repair of the world, and sadly a small cut scene of interceptor and shadow who die if you do not figure out how to save them.

 

[Klaus]

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

[sblock] Arthas becoming the Lich King was awesome, and very heavy metal! [/sblock]