Tropescilloscope: Ambiguous Ending

The ending of a work is left open to the viewer's interpretation. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes As You Know Genre Shift Big Bad Duumvirate Worthy Opponent Bond One-Liner Gorn Butt-Monkey Names to Run Away from Really Fast Dressing as the Enemy War Is Hell Victoria's Secret Compartment Parental Incest Gold Digger Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Zombie Stories Pragmatic Villainy Dropped a Bridge on Him Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Posthumous Character Darkest Hour "Well Done, Son!" Guy The Stoic Punny Name The '50s Shirtless Scene British Films Improbable Aiming Skills Alas, Poor Villain Red Herring Camera Abuse Adaptation Expansion Love Triangle Ungrateful Bastard Hollywood Darkness Badass Normal The Dreaded Those Two Bad Guys folderlabel Soft Glass Drowning My Sorrows Punch-Clock Villain My God, What Have I Done? Big Fancy House Femme Fatale There Is No Kill Like Overkill "Shaggy Dog" Story Cain and Abel Chekhov's Gunman Accidental Murder Bad "Bad Acting" He Knows Too Much For the Evulz No OSHA Compliance No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Cassandra Truth Meaningful Background Event Dark Reprise Beard of Evil Cluster F-Bomb Calling the Old Man Out Never My Fault Abusive Parents The Musical Wham Shot Combat Pragmatist Fatal Flaw Vacation Films Face Death with Dignity Never Found the Body Show Within a Show The Ditz The Vamp Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Needs Wiki Magic Love Deliberate Values Dissonance French Films Abhorrent Admirer Heroes Want Redheads Running Gag Title Drop Match Cut Implacable Man Based on a True Story Mr. Exposition Funny Background Event Wrong Genre Savvy As Long as It Sounds Foreign Poor Communication Kills Immune to Bullets Screw the Money, I Have Rules! The Faceless Mundane Made Awesome Death Seeker Not Quite Dead Big-Bad Ensemble Faking the Dead The Film of the Book Deconstruction Whole Plot Reference Red Right Hand 20 Minutes into the Future Downer Ending Black Best Friend Rule of Three Motor Mouth Composite Character Actor Allusion Meaningful Echo Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Smug Snake Fire-Forged Friends Awesome, but Impractical Slasher Movie The Big Guy The Mole Politically Incorrect Villain Kubrick Stare Unspoken Plan Guarantee Captain Obvious Faux Affably Evil Last-Name Basis Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Reality Has No Subtitles It's All About Me Back from the Dead The Load "The Reason You Suck" Speech Crapsack World The Lost Lenore For Want of a Nail Friend to All Children Sequel Hook Man on Fire Scenery Porn Together in Death Totally Radical Bar Brawl One Steve Limit Age Lift Vampire Fiction Badass in a Nice Suit Does Not Like Shoes Fainting Revenge Ghost Fiction Hong Kong Films Overprotective Dad Lampshade Hanging Pragmatic Adaptation Very Loosely Based on a True Story Manchild The Stinger Blackmail Scary Black Man Hollywood Law Breaking the Fourth Wall Cat Scare Nothing Is Scarier Rousing Speech Oh, Crap! Rule of Symbolism Unusual Euphemism Flipping the Bird NO INDOOR VOICE Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Villain Song Papa Wolf He Who Fights Monsters Armor-Piercing Question Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Male Gaze Eureka Moment Wicked Cultured Here We Go Again! Driven to Suicide Maybe Ever After '80s Hair Jerk Jock A God Am I Heroic Sacrifice Villainous Breakdown Anachronic Order May–December Romance Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Decoy Protagonist Grey and Gray Morality Department of Redundancy Department Horror Comedy Take a Third Option Did Not Get the Girl Imagine Spot Domestic Abuse Deus ex Machina Unresolved Sexual Tension The Bad Guy Wins Rule of Funny Contrived Coincidence Expository Hairstyle Change Sadistic Choice Even Evil Has Standards Blood from the Mouth This Is Gonna Suck Getting Crap Past the Radar The '60s N-Word Privileges Does This Remind You of Anything? Precision F-Strike Military and Warfare Films Double Entendre Irony An Aesop The Dragon Public Domain Feature Films Authority Equals Asskicking Scenery Gorn Punctuated! For! Emphasis! The Sociopath And I Must Scream Pet the Dog Chekhov's Gun Psychological Thriller Boom, Headshot! Rasputinian Death Improbable Weapon User Even Evil Has Loved Ones Laser-Guided Karma German Films Fate Worse than Death The Oner Exactly What It Says on the Tin Conspicuous CG Retired Badass The Dog Bites Back Large Ham The Un-Reveal Early Installment Weirdness Rewatch Bonus Super Strength And Starring Adaptational Attractiveness Early-Bird Cameo Well-Intentioned Extremist Bloody Hilarious Cat Fight One-Word Title Paper-Thin Disguise Central Theme Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Aluminum Christmas Trees Bury Your Gays Dutch Angle Made of Iron Genre Savvy I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Off-into-the-Distance Ending After the End "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Fanservice Extra Credits Gag Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Roaring Rampage of Revenge Death Glare Cool Car Love at First Sight Naïve Newcomer Token Minority Epic Movie Time Skip Undying Loyalty Pyrrhic Victory Vomit Indiscretion Shot Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking It Can Think Documentary More Dakka Shout-Out From Bad to Worse Body Horror Evil Is Hammy Homage Bare Your Midriff "Awesome McCool" Name Black Comedy Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Tap on the Head Grievous Bottley Harm Manic Pixie Dream Girl Hidden Depths Sacrificial Lion Villain Opening Scene Martial Arts Movie Bloodier and Gorier Australian Movies Guile Hero Amoral Attorney Character Development Bullying a Dragon Leave the Camera Running Foil Sir Swears-a-Lot Riddle for the Ages Tagline Idiot Ball Failed a Spot Check No Antagonist timeperiod Gratuitous English Loads and Loads of Characters Becoming the Mask Sassy Black Woman Almost Kiss Market-Based Title Adaptation Name Change Small Name, Big Ego Catch-Phrase Famous Last Words Break the Haughty Dogged Nice Guy The Remake Mood Whiplash Hair-Trigger Temper Obstructive Bureaucrat Adult Fear Woman in White Informed Ability Killed Mid-Sentence Shut Up, Hannibal! O.O.C. Is Serious Business Red Eyes, Take Warning Animal Motifs She Cleans Up Nicely Fingore Hypocritical Humor Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Eye Scream Spiteful Spit Groin Attack Deal with the Devil Woman Scorned Instant Death Bullet Karma Houdini Drives Like Crazy Broken Aesop Same Language Dub Mugging the Monster Gender Flip What You Are in the Dark Cowboy Cop Continuity Nod Stock Footage Aside Glance Kill 'em All Chekhov's Skill Dwindling Party Evil vs. Evil Red Oni, Blue Oni Dirty Old Man Distracted by the Sexy Sinister Minister Bavarian Fire Drill Closed Circle Make It Look Like an Accident The Reveal Adaptational Badass Logo Joke Only a Flesh Wound Only Known by Their Nickname Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Darker and Edgier Defrosting Ice Queen Ambiguously Gay Kick the Dog Diabolus ex Machina Fat Bastard Better to Die than Be Killed Sole Survivor Be Careful What You Wish For Good Is Not Nice Italian Films Parental Abandonment Room Full of Crazy Stuff Blowing Up Intergenerational Friendship Action Survivor I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Took a Level in Badass All Just a Dream Book-Ends Broken Pedestal Call-Back Villain Protagonist Throwing Your Sword Always Works Mooks Arch-Enemy Ship Tease Blatant Lies Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Attempted Rape Ass Shove Author Appeal She's Got Legs Facial Horror Cool Shades Evil Counterpart The Alcoholic Enemy Mine Greater-Scope Villain Knife Nut Comically Missing the Point Random Events Plot Jerk with a Heart of Gold Dirty Coward Karmic Death Damsel in Distress I Did What I Had to Do Spell My Name with an "S" Kick the Son of a Bitch Took a Level in Jerkass Naked People Are Funny Bland-Name Product Adults Are Useless Playing Gertrude Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor An Arm and a Leg Gainax Ending Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Shell-Shocked Veteran True Companions Superhero Framing Device Black Dude Dies First Sports Stories Danny Peary Cult Movies List The Ace Shoot the Shaggy Dog Beta Couple Four-Temperament Ensemble Truth in Television Artistic License – Geography Romantic False Lead Blood Knight Adaptational Heroism Meaningful Name Humans Are Bastards Corpsing Dirty Cop Determinator Race Lift Recycled IN SPACE! Mercy Kill Cool Old Lady Ominous Latin Chanting Gory Discretion Shot The Ghost Missing Mom Fantasy Films Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Only One Name Accidental Misnaming The Starscream Police Brutality Left the Background Music On Drugs Are Bad Animal Title Index Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Big "NO!" Parental Neglect Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Major Injury Underreaction Hell Is That Noise Our Vampires Are Different Brother–Sister Incest Malevolent Masked Men Bolivian Army Ending Celebrity Paradox As the Good Book Says... Brainless Beauty You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Psychopathic Manchild Actually Pretty Funny Too Dumb to Live No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Skewed Priorities Peek-a-Boo Corpse Death of a Child Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Epic Fail Betty and Veronica Redshirt Army Neck Snap The End... Or Is It? Camp Gay Disappeared Dad Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Have a Gay Old Time Film Noir Index The Bully Unreliable Narrator Straight Gay Double-Meaning Title Award-Bait Song Non-Indicative Name Red Shirt Made of Explodium All There in the Script Fatal Family Photo Fanservice Manipulative Bastard Final Girl Meet Cute Smoking Is Cool Soundtrack Dissonance Translation Convention Eyepatch of Power Monumental Damage Depraved Bisexual Scare Chord The Quiet One No Celebrities Were Harmed Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Country Matters Psycho for Hire Nice Hat Film Noir Adaptational Villainy The Smart Guy Mistaken for Gay Wham Line Determinator aka: The Determinator Off with His Head! Lighter and Softer Funny Foreigner Auto Erotica Arranged Marriage Video Credits Television Movie Index Brick Joke Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Say My Name A Minor Kidroduction Moment Killer Take That! Face–Heel Turn Race Against the Clock Artistic License – Military Biopic Shown Their Work Re-Cut A.I. Is a Crapshoot All Men Are Perverts Retcon Anguished Declaration of Love Parental Substitute Novelization Refuge in Audacity Fun with Acronyms Madness Mantra Let's Get Dangerous! Badass Bookworm Horror Films Heroic BSoD Light Is Not Good Canon Foreigner Evil Brit Dark Is Not Evil Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Bond Villain Stupidity Fake Shemp Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Jump Scare Gone Horribly Right Animated Credits Opening Big Applesauce Those Wacky Nazis Bunny-Ears Lawyer The Stoner Male Frontal Nudity Artistic License – Gun Safety Not Using the "Z" Word The Chick Arc Words Canadian Movies Badass Grandpa Rape as Drama Laughing Mad In Medias Res Action Prologue Retirony Casting Gag Alliterative Name Science Fiction Films Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Ax-Crazy Historical-Domain Character Your Cheating Heart Star-Crossed Lovers Dramedy Disney Death Chase Scene Anyone Can Die Eldritch Abomination Mighty Whitey Fish out of Water Mystery and Detective Films Demoted to Extra Vomit Discretion Shot Expy Dying Moment of Awesome Catapult Nightmare The Casanova An Axe to Grind Reasonable Authority Figure Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! I Need a Freaking Drink Tranquil Fury Trailers Always Spoil Pay Evil unto Evil Adorkable How We Got Here Fiery Redhead Big Brother Instinct Slasher Smile Dramatic Irony Bald of Evil Bittersweet Ending Stealth Pun Evil Sounds Deep World of Ham Unusually Uninteresting Sight The Chessmaster Line-of-Sight Name Silent Movie Rated M for Manly Nice Guy Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Death by Adaptation Foreshadowing Historical Villain Upgrade Vitriolic Best Buds Disproportionate Retribution Morality Pet No-Sell Cruel and Unusual Death Real Life Writes the Plot Product Placement Mind Screw Tempting Fate Mythology Gag Apocalypse How Handicapped Badass Outrun the Fireball Works Set in World War II Our Zombies Are Different Freeze-Frame Bonus Didn't Think This Through The Atoner Henpecked Husband Dumb Blonde Villain with Good Publicity As Himself Ripped from the Headlines Insistent Terminology Suspiciously Similar Substitute Never Trust a Trailer Slap-Slap-Kiss Shipper on Deck Villain Ball Call-Forward The Power of Love Batman Gambit Evil Is Petty Would Hurt a Child My Greatest Failure Hero Antagonist Ironic Echo Happily Married Cool Guns Reckless Gun Usage You Killed My Father Evil-Detecting Dog The X of Y Covers Always Lie Serial Killer Only Sane Man The Cameo Costume Porn Spared by the Adaptation Stealth Hi/Bye Dual Wielding Bait-and-Switch Properly Paranoid Toplessness from the Back Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Russian Films Heel Realization Hoist by His Own Petard Car Fu No Name Given Sci-Fi Horror The Great Depression Lock and Load Montage Due to the Dead Hooker with a Heart of Gold Really Gets Around Silence Is Golden Children Are Innocent It's Personal A Date with Rosie Palms Daddy's Girl Mr. Fanservice Annoying Younger Sibling Ambiguous Disorder Card-Carrying Villain The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Beware the Nice Ones Visual Pun Advertised Extra Protagonist Title All for Nothing Interrupted Suicide Gilligan Cut Hypocrite Crucified Hero Shot Badass Boast Suspiciously Specific Denial Fantastic Racism Crazy Jealous Guy Half the Man He Used to Be All Girls Want Bad Boys Artistic License – Law Death by Sex Put on a Bus In Name Only Spiritual Successor Reality Is Unrealistic Up to Eleven Big Bad Artistic License – Physics Noodle Incident Action Genre The '70s Curse Cut Short Improvised Weapon The Mafia Alpha Bitch Mama Bear Music Stories Eiffel Tower Effect Bring My Brown Pants BFG Heel–Face Turn Not So Different Big Eater Earn Your Happy Ending Storming the Castle You Have Failed Me Defiant to the End Crazy-Prepared Sealed Evil in a Can Not So Stoic Ascended Extra Pretty in Mink Adaptation Dye-Job Dull Surprise Daylight Horror Thriller The Smurfette Principle Not Even Bothering with the Accent Asshole Victim Affably Evil Real Life Rule of Cool What Happened to the Mouse? Captain Ersatz Important Haircut Mexican Standoff Men Are the Expendable Gender Pre-Mortem One-Liner Hope Spot Leaning on the Fourth Wall Anachronism Stew Demonic Possession Would Hit a Girl B-Movie Those Two Guys Black and Gray Morality Bad Boss Dark and Troubled Past Dramatic Gun Cock Easily Forgiven Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Historical Hero Upgrade The '80s Married to the Job Neck Lift Creative Closing Credits Humiliation Conga Kill It with Fire Deliberately Monochrome From Nobody to Nightmare Overly Long Gag Exact Words What the Hell, Hero? Your Head A-Splode Redemption Equals Death Black Comedy Rape Heterosexual Life-Partners Brutal Honesty Artistic License – History Dark Action Girl Insane Troll Logic Disney Villain Death Death by Irony Ms. Fanservice Creator Cameo Sequel Escalation Establishing Character Moment Badass Longcoat Suddenly SHOUTING! Creepy Child Air-Vent Passageway Honor Before Reason Foregone Conclusion Not What It Looks Like Jerkass Anti-Villain Stylistic Suck Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Wretched Hive Word of God Agony of the Feet Knight Templar Obfuscating Stupidity Spanner in the Works Flashback Beauty Is Never Tarnished Plucky Comic Relief Pimped-Out Dress The Brute Freudian Excuse Bowdlerise Everyone Has Standards Despair Event Horizon Disguised in Drag Wounded Gazelle Gambit Japanese Films Drill Sergeant Nasty Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Jitter Cam Twist Ending Sexy Discretion Shot Taking the Bullet Stepford Smiler Empathic Environment Reality Ensues Plot Hole And the Adventure Continues Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Cold-Blooded Torture Affectionate Parody The Lancer Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Bound and Gagged Bilingual Bonus Deadpan Snarker Leitmotif Anti-Hero Jerkass Has a Point I'm a Humanitarian Pretty Little Headshots Historical In-Joke Coming-of-Age Story Developing Doomed Characters Fourth Date Marriage The Hero Older Than They Look Every Car Is a Pinto Hero of Another Story Offscreen Moment of Awesome Artistic License – Biology Insult Backfire Dies Wide Open Film Series Intrepid Reporter Obviously Evil Action Girl Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Cloudcuckoolander I Have Your Wife Once More, with Clarity! The Alleged Car A Father to His Men Ambiguous Ending Adaptation Distillation Serious Business MacGuffin Broken Bird One-Man Army Get Out! Author Avatar Belligerent Sexual Tension The Hero Dies Christmas Movies Index Frame-Up All There in the Manual Manly Tears Only in It for the Money Bottomless Magazines Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Evil Laugh Taking You with Me Not So Above It All Unwitting Instigator of Doom Index of Film Westerns The Voiceless Kids Are Cruel Adapted Out Stalker with a Crush The Place Romantic Comedy Bloodless Carnage Slashed Throat You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Chewing the Scenery The '90s Destination Defenestration Cool Old Guy Fan Disservice Extreme Doormat In the Back La Résistance Loophole Abuse Yandere Babies Ever After No Ending Rich Bitch Dissonant Serenity Bi the Way Corrupt Corporate Executive Training Montage Eagleland Five-Man Band Sanity Slippage Setting Update Amusing Injuries Offscreen Teleportation Berserk Button Self-Deprecation Chiaroscuro My Beloved Smother Narrator Hate Sink Guns Akimbo Curb-Stomp Battle Police are Useless Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Extremely Short Timespan The Cavalry Shower Scene Evil Plan Genre Throwback It Will Never Catch On Antagonist Title Big Damn Heroes Green-Eyed Monster Break the Cutie Mad Scientist