10 Terrible Endings

A good ending is an essential part of a good story.  After all, terrible endings have a way of making good stories bad and bad stories worse.  Admittedly this list will focus mostly on stories from the latter category.

Even were I to try and find ten stories that were good right up till the ending, I’d run into a problem.  Namely, that when you know how a story ends, it’s hard to be objective about what came before.

Many stories have been ruined by terrible endings, since such endings can easily taint all that preceded them.  Sometimes there’s a slow descent from good to bad, and sometimes it’s sudden.

The Search for Terrible Endings

For this list, I looked for terrible stories with equally terrible endings.  I did locate some otherwise good works ruined by their endings, but those were somewhat harder to find.

As with my list of the Top 10 Worst Fantasy Stories, I’m going to include books, movies, and television programmes; nothing is exempt from this list.

10. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

I mean no disrespect to the medium or the genre, and I do enjoy some superhero movies and television programmes—although they have been run into the ground somewhat.

That said, Zack Snyder is one of the worst filmmakers of our time.  Not only is he probably a fascist-sympathizer, but every film he makes is close to unwatchable, no matter how good the source material.

The Overman

From what I understand, Superman was originally conceived of as a villain modeled on Nietzsche’s “Übermensch.”  He was then reimagined as what is essentially a response to Nietzsche’s ideal.

And now we come to Zack Snyder, whose reimagining of Superman has had fascist undertones from the beginning—just as with all his other films, in fact.  It’s somehow worse in the sequel.

Zack Snyder’s Superheroes

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice portrays a Superman who chooses which innocents to save and which to let die.  But what about Batman?  If anything, he’s even worse—a fascist who revels in brutality.

There have been fascist interpretations of Batman before—including one by known fascist Frank Miller—but Zack Snyder’s version is perhaps the most obvious.  This is a Batman whose weapon of choice is a machine gun.

Lex Luthor—who’s supposed to embody the Nietzschean super-human—is reimagined as a pathetic rip-off of Heath Ledger’s Joker.  Every moment he’s onscreen makes me want to throw something heavy at the television.

“I Didn’t Kill Those Men”

The plot of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is, to put it mildly, incoherent.  On at least one occasion, Superman is clearly shown killing a terrorist, and in the very next scene we’re told he didn’t kill anyone.

Yet more baffling is why anyone in the movie cares that he wiped out a terrorist organization.  But we’re told afterwards that it was really Lex Luthor who killed those men with special bullets he manufactured.

Lex Luthor frames Superman for numerous crimes during the film, and Batman falls for it like the idiot he is.  When Superman doesn’t fall for it, Luthor kidnaps his mother and blackmails him.

Save Martha

Now we come to why Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice deserves to be on a list of terrible endings.  Batman and Superman fight for a bit, but Batman gains the upper hand and prepares to kill Superman with a kryptonite spear.

And then Superman tries to tell Batman what’s going on, and he inexplicably decides to call his own mother by her first name:

“You’re letting him… kill Martha!”

Henry Cavill as Superman

As it turns out, Batman’s mother was also named Martha!  Instead of shrugging it off, assuming a fetal position, or anything else that might make even the smallest amount of sense…

“Why did you say that name?!”

Ben Affleck as Batman

This resolves the central conflict of the movie almost instantly.  Yes, more crap happens in the final minutes of Batman v Superman, but none of that really matters.

The film’s conflict is over, and it ended with Zack Snyder making a great deal of what should amount to meaningless trivia.  When it comes to terrible endings, it’s hard to outdo an ending this stupid.

Hard… but not impossible.

9. Hannah Montana: The Movie

The main character Miley lives a double-life as both an entitled teenager and an inexplicably respected popstar.  It makes for a messed up show, and you can just sense the corporation pulling the strings behind it.

Canned Pop

In the movie, Miley is forced to spend two weeks in her hometown in Tennessee.  During this time, she writes a bland popsong only to be told that it doesn’t feel “personal” enough.

The song she produces at the end of the film is somehow even more generic, and yet the film treats it as though it were some heartfelt masterwork.  This movie will conclude in a similar manner.

The Wig

Many terrible endings betray the themes of the stories they end, but this has got to be one of the most egregious examples.

You see, over the course of the film, Miley realizes that she can no longer stand to live this double-life.  She removes her disguise in front of a crowd of people, resolving her character arc.

At this point, Miley’s transformation from a popstar to what we’re meant to see as a real person is complete.  She no longer wants to live a lie, and she’s happy with who she really is.

Living a Lie

And then the people of her own hometown reject Miley as she really is, demanding she resume her miserable double-life as Hannah Montana.  She, too, embraces the lie in the end.

It wasn’t enough for this film to include some of the worst musical numbers I’ve ever seen.  It had to end with a rejection of its own morals, too.  I felt my list of terrible endings wouldn’t be complete without it.

8. Naruto

Does it really matter what Naruto is about?  It’s a long-running battle shōnen where characters fight.  It takes place in a world of ninjas with supernatural powers, and it pushed a good few other terrible endings off this list.

The Real Villain Is…

Some time into the story, we get our villain.  He claims to be Ūchiha Madara, but it’s obvious he’s really Kakashi’s former teammate Obito.  Nonetheless, the reveal isn’t a bad twist.

To increase sales, the final battle was inflated with almost constant twists, each revealing that the person you thought was the mastermind was actually just a pawn; meet the real villain!

First we learn that Obito was just a pawn in the real Madara’s plan.  This lasts several episodes and a filler arc before we learn that Madara was just a pawn in the devices of Zetsu.  Some filler later, we learn that even Zetsu wasn’t the true villain.

Sasuke’s Redemption

The main character Naruto and his rival Sasuke defeat Kaguya in a fight that takes too long.  Then Sasuke reveals his own evil plan, and they fight each other.

Sasuke’s been growing increasingly evil throughout the story, and Naruto wants to bring him back to the good side.  Despite Naruto’s best efforts, Sasuke has become a threat to the ninja world.

So they fight… and they blow each other’s arms off… and then Sasuke just kind of gives up.  He doesn’t develop as a person; he just… stops trying to take over the world for now.

Despite the fact Sasuke implies he might try to take over the world again, everyone instantly forgives him.  Sakura, whom Sasuke’s betrayed numerous times, falls back into his arms, and they get married.

Of course, Sasuke leaves Sakura to raise their child alone—but he’s the good guy now, apparently!  Really, this is one of those terrible endings that defies explanation.

If you’re partway through watching Naruto, stop now.  There are better stories out there.

7. The Saga of Darren Shan

I really enjoyed the Darren Shan books—what I read of them.  But then I learned how they end, and I stopped reading them.

The Vampire Prince and the Lord of the Vampaneze

So Close…

As we near another of our terrible endings, Darren and Steve finally begin their duel to the death.  Knowing that the winner will destroy the world, Darren goads Steve into a move that kills them both.

This would have been a great ending, but of course this is a list of terrible endings, so the author had to ruin it somehow.  Darren gets brought back to life, goes back in time, and prevents himself from ever becoming a vampire in the first place.

Everything we’ve read up till that point ended up not happening at all.  The whole Saga of Darren Shan was—I hate to say it—a complete waste of time, and all because the author just couldn’t bear to end on a downer.

6. Last Ounce of Courage

Every scene in Last Ounce of Courage manages to pile on even more insanity than the previous scene.  The main character is Bob Revere, a small-town Evangelical mayor whose son was killed-in-action.

In the world of this movie, atheists control every institution in the United States, and they use this power to oppress Evangelical Christians.  Even in Evangelical towns, children are taught a version of the nativity story that substitutes extraterrestrials for both angels and shepherds.

Winter Space-Opera

Bob’s grandson Christian and his friends discover that the nativity story has nothing to do with aliens, and Bob is inspired to put up Christmas decorations all over town.

This leads to Bob getting arrested and sitting in jail while the school “winter space-opera” play proceeds as planned.  That is, until the teenagers switch out the script for a real nativity play.

A supernatural being suddenly appears to lend Bob a magic radio so he can listen to the school play.  Partway through the nativity play, Christian gets up onstage with an American flag and upstages all the actors.

And if you think it’s crazy now, just you wait!

“I Love You, and Merry Chris—” BOOM!

Christian moves on to the next phase of his plan.  After upstaging the actors, Christian and his friends force an auditorium filled with children to watch a video of his father being blown up by a grenade.

The audience starts crying, but then they inexplicably give the snuff film a standing ovation.  Bob is released from jail, and the supernatural being starts glowing and then disappears.

I highly recommend Last Ounce of Courage to anyone who likes bad movies, and this abomination of an ending is the cherry on top.  Terrible endings are seldom this hilarious.

5. Game of Thrones

After many seasons of power-struggles between various noble families—during which we hear constantly that winter is coming—winter finally comes, and it’s not great.  In fact, it’s one of the biggest let-downs in the history of terrible endings.

There are too many characters to bother introducing any.  And anyway, most of them suddenly become paragons of virtue in the last season or so.  All the designated “heroes” band together to fight the invading army of ice zombies.

Assassination

The “heroes” then turn their attention to defeating the evil Queen Cersei.  But the supposedly-good Queen Daenerys suddenly flips out and razes an entire city full of innocent people.

Daenerys’ incestuous lover Jon tries to bring her back to the side of “good,” but she doesn’t listen.  Jon is forced to stab Daenerys through the heart in order to save the realm from her madness.

Now, Jon is the true heir to the throne, so you’d think this means he’ll have to take his rightful place as King of Westeros, right?  It wouldn’t be a great ending, but it’s serviceable enough.

Evidence?

But no.  Despite the fact that the only witness to the assassination was a dragon that conveniently flew away with all evidence of the crime, Jon gets thrown in jail for regicide.

Jon’s co-conspirator Tyrion, however, somehow gets invited to the council that’s held to decide who’ll rule.  A few people put themselves forward, but everyone’s shot down eventually.

Republicanism

And—wouldn’t you know it?—they elect the Chosen One kid as their first president.  This has got to be Terrible Endings 101: ending a fantasy story with the characters founding a republic.  It’s putrid.

Everyone gets their almost-perfect ending—most of them get to be on President Bran’s council.  And just to rip off a much better story with a much better ending, the characters write a book about what happened.

Nihilism

The only way Game of Thrones could have ended and been internally consistent would be if it concluded in a pit of nihilism.  At least then I would have harboured that smallest degree of respect for its consistency.

There are many terrible endings one can give to a fantasy story, but this is one of the most inept I’ve seen, as of yet.

4. The Twilight Saga

Breaking Dawn

With Bella now a vampire, the Cullen family attempt to hide their rapidly-growing child Renesmee (terrible name, by the way) from the evil Volturi, the vampire royalty who kill humans and vampires alike.

The Volturi discover the child’s existence and assume she must be a full-vampire child, which poses a threat to their way of life.  Both sides gather armies in preparation for a final battle of good and evil.

Negotiations

Yes, you heard me right.  They just tell the Volturi that their daughter isn’t dangerous.  The Volturi realize she’s not a threat to them, and everyone goes home and lives happily ever after.

I’m not the kind of person who writes a Hamlet ending. If the fight had happened, it would have ended with 90% of the combatants, Cullen and Volturi alike, destroyed. There was simply no other outcome once the fight got started, given the abilities and numbers of the opposing sides.

Because I would never finish Bella’s story on such a downer—Everybody dies!—I knew that the real battle would be mental. It was a game of maneuvering, with the champion winning not by destroying the other side, but by being able to walk away. This was another reason I liked the chess metaphor on the cover—it really fit the feel of that final game. I put a clue into the manuscript as well.

Alice tore a page from The Merchant of Venice because the end of Breaking Dawn was going to be somewhat similar: bloodshed appears inevitable, doom approaches, and then the power is reversed and the game is won by some clever verbal strategies; no blood is shed, and the romantic pairings all have a happily ever after.

Stephanie Meyer, on the ending of Breaking Dawn

Personal Choice

After all the innocent people the Volturi have killed, the heroes allow them to go on doing just that.  Terrible endings are seldom so anticlimactic.

To make things worse, this actually ties in with the story’s theme of “personal choice” being an all-powerful force.  Because in The Twilight Saga, it’s fine if you choose to kill humans for their blood—personal choice!

3. Sword Art Online

Alicization

In the Alicization arc, Kirito is in a coma, kept alive in a virtual world where he must team up with his new friend Eugeo to rescue their friend Alice from the evil Administrator Quinella.

Quinella has a good counterpart called Cardinal, a being just as powerful as our villain.  Cardinal helps Kirito and Eugeo to ascend Quinella’s tower, and they soon find a brainwashed Alice, who wants to regain her lost memories.

Quinella’s End

Our heroes finally face Quinella (after she briefly seduces Eugeo), and it looks like we might get to see a fight between two all-powerful beings.  But plot convenience strikes, and Quinella kills Cardinal in one hit.

Eugeo manages to cut off one of Quinella’s arms, but he’s mortally wounded in the process.  Kirito chops of another of Quinella’s arms but loses one of his own, and Quinella begins to float into a portal to the real world.

The Death of Eugeo

With our villain Quinella having recently been raped to death, Alice watches as Kirito kneels beside a dying Eugeo, who’s found the secret to restoring her memories.

Afraid that if he restores Alice’s memories she’ll want to have sex with Kirito instead of him, Eugeo decides to take the memories with him into the afterlife.  That he leaves Alice with a void that can never be filled is of little concern to Eugeo.

Few terrible endings are so vile as this.  Not only does one of our heroes take away the agency of a female character who’s already expressed a desire to regain her memories, but there’s also the villain’s death.

The image of an armless woman being raped to death by a flaming clown is seared into my memory.  That it’s presented as a villain getting her just deserts only makes Sword Art Online somehow more repugnant.

2. Harry Potter

Even if we don’t think about any of that, her bestselling Harry Potter series still has perhaps the most infuriating ending of the past two decades.

The Boy Who Lived

Harry Potter was a boy who learned he was really a wizard.  Over the next seven books, he battled the undead wizard Voldemort, who murdered Harry’s parents and countless others.

Just ignore the fact that all wizards in this story either own slaves or aspire to own slaves.  The author certainly ignores it, even poking fun at the one character who objects to the practice.

As Harry searches for magical artifacts that the secretive Headmaster Dumbledore believed would kill Voldemort, numerous secondary characters die protecting Harry: the aptly-named Boy Who Lived.

The Battle of Hogwarts

With the final battle raging all around him, Harry learns that to defeat the Dark Lord, he must let Voldemort kill him.  So he goes into the forest and allows Voldemort to unleash his deadly curse.

Resurrected as an obvious Jesus metaphor, Harry duels Voldemort, and the Dark Lord dies “by his own curse.”  Of course Harry doesn’t have to get his hands dirty.

Epilogue

Harry is now married to his high school sweetheart Ginny, and his friends Ron and Hermione are married.  Even Harry’s old enemy Draco Malfoy is married with at least one child.  Why do we have to read about all of this?

Harry tells his son Albus that Slytherins aren’t all bad—even though if we’ve learnt anything from the past seven books, it’s that all Slytherins are evil—and the story ends on the following line:

All was well.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

This is perhaps the laziest possible sentence to end a story with.  It’s the most blatant rejection of “Show—Don’t Tell” I’ve ever heard.

Simply telling the reader that all is well—while making no effort to demonstrate or even explain the assertion—dismisses just about every question an invested reader might have by the end of a book.

“All was well” is infinitely worse than even “and they all lived happily ever after.”  At least that sentence uses an active verb to convey the passage of some unspecified amount of time!  “All was well” utterly rejects show-don’t-tell and dismisses any deeper questions on the reader’s mind.

1. Atlas Shrugged

Rich Industrialist Super-Humans

Dagny Taggart and Hank Rearden are rich industrialist super-humans who adhere to the exact philosophy Ayn Rand championed.  They only care about making money; this is supposed to make them inspirational to readers.

Other rich industrialist super-humans have been disappearing as the United States descends into communism.  Dagny and Hank begin an abusive sexual affair with each other, leading to a rivalry between Hank and their friend Francisco, who also wants Dagny.

Galt’s Gulch

Eventually Dagny discovers that all the rich industrialist super-humans have retreated to a compound in the mountains, where they all agree with each other on every issue.  Their leader is a super-super-human named John Galt.

Seeing that John Galt is a better super-human than either of her previous partners causes Dagny to leave both Hank and Francisco, who take it in stride, since super-humans instinctively know who’s the best super-human.

Who Is John Galt?

All other terrible endings pale in comparison to this…  The super-humans’ plan is to wait till all the regular humans kill each other or starve to death, at which point they’ll sweep up the stragglers and repopulate the earth with their super-human seed.

Dagny sends her assistant Eddie—Atlas Shrugged’s only relatable character—on a suicide mission.  After his train breaks down, Eddie dies of thirst in the desert.  We cut immediately to the super-humans celebrating their victory over the ordinary humans.

Back to the World

Dagny is now married to John Galt, who decides it’s time to invade the post-apocalyptic world and repopulate with super-humans.  The story ends on this line of narration:

He raised his hand and over the desolate earth, he traced in space the sign of the dollar.

Atlas Shrugged (Part Ⅲ, Chapter Ⅹ)

What can you even say to that?  I think it speaks for itself.  Atlas shrugged has the terrible ending to end all terrible endings.