What is(are) your favorite story finale(s)?

It can be games, shows, books, movies, plays, anything, but what is (are) your favorite climaxes and why?

This is inspired because I just finished watching Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, whose finale is fantastic. It has several well-laid plans from both the good guys and the bad guys come to fruition over the course of thirteen episodes (50-63, from the time the coup in Central starts until Father's demise) and then one epilogue episode that, while not really wrapping up truly necessary plot points, still serves as a great way to wind the plot down. I can't just watch this ending act one or two episodes at a time, it's something that I want to sit down and watch all at once, which I did this morning It just starts out so strong and then keeps building and building and building upon itself in epic happenings, and even carries a lot of character development with it. Perhaps I enjoy this show a little too much but it's so damn amazing and gives me so much joy at the end of it all.

So there's mine; what's yours?

Also, on a completely unrelated note, what is the plural of dénouement? I put an S up there but I'm not sure if that's right or not...

@believer258 said:

Also, on a completely unrelated note, what is the plural of dénouement? I put an S up there but I'm not sure if that's right or not...

It's a French word, so you pluralize it by taking a long drag of your cigarette.

I always thought that Shadow of the Colossus had a great ending and larger finale sequence.

@believer258: wiktionary says just add a S on at the end. It's not like it's Culs de Sac or anything weird.

GTA III. It had the perfect ending.

Do you actually mean "denouement", as what comes after the climax in a narrative or are you talking about the climax itself?

Either way, Persona 3 FES had an amazing ending. Everything that has happened in the game before is linked to it (Tartarus, Strega, Social Links...), the boss is one of the greatest bosses I've ever gone against (even if it was long, but that added to the theme it was going for) and everything that happens after the final battle is moving and also tragic.

Uncharted 3's ending is pretty great.

Fight Club's ending (the ending ending, not the twist) was pretty good. Pandorum also had a great ending, but Goddam I hope there's a sequel.

Eternal Darkness after you beat it 3 times (FUCKING AMAZING), Max Payne, MGS 1 - 4, RE4 (Leon is such a player), Journey (only game a tear came to my eye while playing it), Darksiders was pretty awesome

I've always been big on the endings to the three Boktai games. Spending the whole game as a lone man and his partner-flower-thing, then going up against literally immortal evils. Cue short motivational speech (another reason why I like it: the anime-type speeches aren't long, and they are fun to see), and somehow making it out alive.

Oh, and the great music playing during them.

I love the last 10 minutes of Last of the Mohicans. That chase up the mountain path, the amazing music, Daniel Day Lewis with a musket in each hand clearing the way for Chingachgook. Stirring stuff!

the ending for portal 2 was good (and the plot twist completely surprised me).

I'm partial to the ending of Alice: Madness Returns. It's so twisted--I love it.

@MooseyMcMan said:

Uncharted 3's ending is pretty great.

That's good news, I haven't yet played it, so to hear it's good is nice.

Oh, and I thought MGS4 did the ending pretty well. Oh wait, but we're talking about in general and not just games... hm. That's a hard question. Although I didn't fully enjoy the whole episode, I did still really like the ending to Miami Vice.

@mosespippy said:

@believer258: wiktionary says just add a S on at the end. It's not like it's Culs de Sac or anything weird.

Ah, thanks. It just sounded weird with an s on the end.

@FluxWaveZ said:

Do you actually mean "denouement", as what comes after the climax in a narrative or are you talking about the climax itself?

Ooops - I was thinking that denoument=climax. My bad.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde has the best ending of any story I have ever seen.

The Good, the Bad and The Ugly comesto mind. The perfect blend of Leones images and Morricones music is just mind-blowing.

I'm gonna throw out some movies that have great final shots. The end as a whole is great for all of them, but these have particularly good moments immediately before cutting to credits:

Inglorious Bastards ("I think this just might be my masterpiece")

There Will Be Blood ("I'm finished!")

The Godfather Part 2 (just look at the tragedy all over Pacino's face as he contemplates what he's become. Brilliant performance)

Psycho ("She wouldn't hurt a fly!")

Kill Bill part 1 ("Tell me one thing, Sophie. Is she aware...that her daughter...is still alive?")

The Dark Knight

King Kong

Being John Malkovich

And video games with fantastic endings:

Portal 2

Any of the Half Life Games.

Wind Waker's final boss

Call of Duty 4

Mass Effect 3 (FUCK ALL YALL! I LOVED IT!)

Metal Gear Solid 4. It's fucking exposition but it works appropriately.

To me, nothing tops the ending of Chinatown. It gets you so engrossed in this mystery that becomes more and more twisted as it gets slowly unravelled and then right at the end it end when you think it's all going to be resolved, you're faced with the reminder that things don't go how they're supposed to, people aren't equally subject to justice, and all you can really do about it is move on and not let the injustice in the world consume you.