Best fictional ending?

[Relish in Chaos]

What do you think is the best ending in any work of fiction? My vote goes to Batman: The Killing Joke. To quote Tim Sale, "how cool is it that the book ends on a joke?" The Joker's concluding, and genuinely funny, joke sums up the relationship between him and the Batman, and with both of them laughing hysterically and then cutting away to leave an ambiguous ending, it really makes you wonder if Batman's just as insane as his archenemy.

 

[Esotera]

The one that I immediately thought of is Matter by Iain M. Banks. It ends very abruptly and is meant to show how persistent humanity can be.

A few others I can think of:

- I Am Legend (the book)
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

And as for films, I'm going to nominate Black Dynamite:

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I like nice endings, and I thought that Superbad had a nice ending.

They both wake up and reconcile, and each go off with their respective girl, and finally part ways, after so many years of being co-dependent on eachother ;_;

 

[The Wykydtron]

The true ending to Persona 4, it's pretty damn awesome. Not wanting to spoil so i'll leave it vague.

Code Geass R2 has one of the best endings ever, with Lulu being more of a boss than ever before and Suzaku not being terrible for the first time in his wretched life.

 

[Fappy]

I don't know if I can think of the best, but I know a few great ones. The end of the movie Heat is one of my all time favorites. And depressing as fucking hell.

 

[Fappy]

The true ending to Persona 4, it's pretty damn awesome. Not wanting to spoil so i'll leave it vague.

Code Geass R2 has one of the best endings ever, with Lulu being more of a boss than ever before and Suzaku not being terrible for the first time in his wretched life.

Yeah, I almost mentioned P4. The perfect balance of bitter and sweet in my opinion. Kind of reminded me of Chrono Trigger's ending.

 

[DoPo]

The ending of the short story Weapon by John Christopher. It's my favourite short story ever. Actually, just read it [http://lib.mn/blog/john_christopher/178374.html]. I totally found it by accident just now but I'll use the chance to promote it. It will take you no more than 10 minutes, so go for it.

 

[Spade Lead]

Seriously, though... I don't know. I certainly know which ending RUINED what was my favorite book up until the last ten pages

Spoiler

<url=http://www.amazon.com/Out-Dark-David-Weber/dp/0765324121>David Weber - Out of the Dark

If you have never read it, do so. You will NEVER see the end coming, and when you do get to it, you will laugh for a long time. I laughed for like half an hour straight when I got to the end...

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Seriously, though... I don't know. I certainly know which ending RUINED what was my favorite book up until the last ten pages

Spoiler

<url=http://www.amazon.com/Out-Dark-David-Weber/dp/0765324121>David Weber - Out of the Dark

If you have never read it, do so. You will NEVER see the end coming, and when you do get to it, you will laugh for a long time. I laughed for like half an hour straight when I got to the end...

I looked up the wiki page for this...

Spoiler

So in the end one of the characters is DRACULA?

Why?

(I can't believe Webber wrote this instead of the events in the Talbott cluster and Beowulf)

 

[StormShaun]

The true ending to Persona 4, it's pretty damn awesome. Not wanting to spoil so i'll leave it vague.

Code Geass R2 has one of the best endings ever, with Lulu being more of a boss than ever before and Suzaku not being terrible for the first time in his wretched life.

Beat me again...I see. 0_<

Well since I agree 100% with Persona 4, I will have to go with the Infamous 2 good ending. That was well emotional for me and wanting a sequel.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

The ending of To The Moon.
It's brilliant. Just like the rest of the game.
I really don't want to spoil it, so instead, you should all go buy it on Steam and find out for yourselves.
It's just that good.
I guess I should give a summary of it, for the topic, but it would really spoil it, so I guess I'll make it very vague.

Spoiler

Johnny's wish comes true, and then he-
That's all you get.

 

[Cabisco]

Theres a lot of great endings but I think just for the impact it had on both me and the British public in general i'm going to go for the ending of Blackadder. I can't think of any other comedy that ended on such a dark somber note.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Theres a lot of great endings but I think just for the impact it had on both me and the British public in general i'm going to go for the ending of Blackadder. I can't think of any other comedy that ended on such a dark somber note.

It's amazing how bad that ending looked when they originally made it, I remember watching a little documentary piece about it. The end result was harrowing though.

 

[Legion]

The best ending are ones that even though you love the series/show/game/whatever, you are happy with how it ends, as opposed to simply wanting more or thinking "What the hell?". In other words, you finish watching it and feel satisfied, like no more needs to be done.

Good examples would be (in my opinion):

Code Geass R2.
Portal 1+2.
Fallout New Vegas.
Bioshock.
Halo Reach.
Dragon Age: Origins + Awakening.
Limbo.
Mirrors Edge.
Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex.
Darker Than Black season 1.
Angel Beats.

Bad examples would be:

Lost.
Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Darker Than Black season 2.
Assassins Creed 2 - Revelations.
Mafia 2.
Alan Wake.
Borderlands.
Dragon Age 2.
Mass Effect 3.
Fallout 3 pre-Broken Steel.

I have generally tried to avoid series that are not finished, as I normally view them as one continuous work. The exception tends to be ones with non-direct sequels.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

The final sentence in Layer Cake... You know the one! ;P It polished the film off nicely!

The ending to The Departed was my favourite film ending around... really really good set of twists!

And finally, my favourite ending to a game; Enslaved: Oddessy to the West... The storytelling in that game is fantastic, and the game is a delight to play, from start to finish! And the twist at the end is both thought provoking and great story telling at it's finest... Also, Andy Serkis FTW!

 

[Padwolf]

For books my favourite ending is the Darren Shan Vampire Saga. Such a great ending. Made me tear up a little.

For movies my favourite is Memories of Matsuko. Seriously people, go watch this movie! It was the first movie to make me sit there in silence and in tears for 10 minutes after. Such a powerful ending. A powerful movie all around, but damn.

Theres a lot of great endings but I think just for the impact it had on both me and the British public in general i'm going to go for the ending of Blackadder. I can't think of any other comedy that ended on such a dark somber note.

For TV, this. The Blackadder ending was just harrowing. It was fantastic. Made me cry the first time I watched it.

For games my favourite is Silent Hill 2, the water ending. Out of all the endings to that game, I felt the water one was the best way to end it.

 

[Major Chip]

The 'Blackadder' ending was quite something. So many harrowing quotes, interwoven with a very British wit. "Ahm- not all that good, Blackadder. Rather hoped I'd get through the whole show, go back to work at Pratt and Sons, keep wicket for the Croydon Gentlemen, marry Doris. Made a note in my diary on the way here. Simply says: "Bugger".

Since 'Blackadder' has been mentioned a few times I'll add another example. The end of 'That Mitchell and Webb Look'. The sketch is a spoof of Sherlock Holmes, a story the series has spoofed several times before in various ways. However, they very deliberately set up a comedic scenario, only to drain away the humor at the end. I believe this was likely a nod to other comedies like Blackadder.

 

[Smeatza]

snip

Two of my favourite moments in comedy. You are a sir of good taste.

I'm nominating Little Miss Sunshine for best ending ever, watch it.