Which character had the best ending?

[Robb Stark]

Whether they lived or died, BTVS or AtS, which character, in your opinion, had the best ending? Any criteria or qualification you want. Whose hit home the most for you?

There are a couple for me. I loved Angel's end in "Not Fade Away", but my favorites are:

Doyle: I loved "Hero". I thought it was the perfect end for Doyle, and I had no idea it was coming when I first saw it. It was just SUCH a heroic end. The "you never know until you've been tested" line was so cool, and of course, Doyle's final kiss with Cordy was pretty emotional.

Wes: I've always liked Wes, but he's not my favorite character. That said, him losing Fred right after he finally gets her, and his ensuing journey with Illyria is SO sad. His end in the series finale, telling Illyria to lie to him, might be the most emotional part of the series. It's weird, I tear up every time I see that scene.

Honorable mentions go to Spike in "Chosen", Angel in "Not Fade Away", and Cordelia in "You're Welcome".

 

[thetopher]

A few spring to mind, if we're talking about true endings:

Cordelia: 'I got my guy back on track'. I think anyone watching this episode falls back in love with Cordelia's character after the horrors of Season 4. She dies, but she gets one hell of a sendoff. 🙂

Darla: 'The one good thing we did.' Her second death, her sacrifice, really stays with you. It's heartfelt and an utterly beleivable ending to her transformation.

Doyle: 'Is that it? Am I done?' That recording and the double meaning of it, the added pathos, is so utterly devasting for a character we've only known for 9 episodes.

Wesley: 🙁🙁🙁 Oh, god it still hurts! The guy gets zero breaks. He just dies, no big epic send-off, he just loses the fight and then has that touching scene with Illyria

Angel: Not Fade Away is a great swansong for him to go out to. True to the themes of his own show until the last scene. 🙂

So clearly 'Angel' had the best endings on its show, the ones that stayed with me.

Honourable mentions go to Spike in 'Chosen' and Buffy in 'The Gift', but since they both come back the season after they don't really reasonate that strong an emotion.

 

[chasesummers]

I would have to go with Cordelia, although I was annoyed the hell out that she ended up only in one episode, she had a bitter sweet goodbye. The one episode didn't make up for what we lost in Season 4 but definitely a good ending.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

There were a lot of good character endings on both shows (and a lot of bad/disappointing ones too).
I really like Buffy's happy ending that she gets in 'Chosen'.
Darla staking herself was very emotional and it was a great way to send off her character on a high note.

 

[Xin Rong]

I would go with Darla's from the shows, and Lorne's if we're expanding it to include the comics, espeically considering how the issue in which Lorne leaves is dedicated to the memory of the actor who played him.

 

[SiegePerilous02]

Darla- who would have know that an originally generic one-off villain would evolve into such a deep character with such a memorable death?

Cordelia- I hate that she needed to be killed of at all, but this was probably the best way to do it.

Wes- Man, this is just heartbreaking

Gunn- Bleeding out and with only 10 minutes to live, still stands with Angel against Hell's army. Man has stones the size of watermelons.

Faith- Not really anything outstanding, but I like how she seemed at peace with herself and redeemed. Bonus points for being the only one next to that crater (aside from maybe Dawn) that I found to still be interesting/likeable.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Darla's was fantastic, from the POV that the show was about redemption. But also Anya makes a great run at that.

 

[white avenger]

Angel at the end of Season 2 has always been one of my favorite death scenes anywhere. The look of shock after "Close your eyes..." was classic, and his death was truly heroic (him giving his life to correct the damage that his evil self had brought about) and, to me, at least, mysterious. How did he manage to signal Buffy what to do, with his eyes closed?

The true measure of such a beautiful death is that it wasn't even marred by his totally unsurprising return just a few weeks into the next season.

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

If the comic-continuity counts, it's easily Doyle.

It's Doyle either way, "Hero" was amazing. But the comics undid Wesley's noble death since he became an undead slave of the Senior Partners.

Cordy's was terrific, but the comics even undermined that a little, because I always pictured her & Doyle becoming something like TPTB oracles together. Her not mentioning being w/Doyle in her ATF appearance made me sad.

I don't really count Buffy, Angel, or Spike at all, because I never believed any of them would stay gone from any of their goodbyes.

 

[Still a Scoobie]

I don't think anyone gets a particularly good ending (or not one that I personally enjoy, anyway) but the best of the bad bunch for me is, weirdly, Fred. Her end was sort of mildly horrific and although she would never have chosen it in a thousand years I think she would have been pleased and proud at the inspiration her death gave Angel et al to really go after THE big bads, not just of the season, but of the entire 'verse.

 

[Wesley Pryce]

I'd say Angel in "Not Fade Away" his I'm fighting whether I can win or not attitude is so inspirational.

Wesley,so sad,he never really got to enjoy anything for very long. He finally got what he wanted the most only to have it ripped away from him,only to die an painful,violently horrible death. One of the most emotional death scenes I've ever seen any place. On top of all of this Wesley was and is my favorite character on either show,so this was so very emotional.

OZ, i thought his exit from Buffy was very well done

Cordy,her death in you're Welcome was both surprising and deeply depressing.

Lorne in Not Fade Away,i love that this guy who was so kind and so sweet ,and always there for other people was put in a situation so against his own nature,it profoundly depressed him to have to kill anyone,but he did it because he was ever loyal to Angel and to AI,his friends came before himself,that's my Lorne .RIP Andy Hallet,i miss you. 🙂

SO many others to mention including:
Faith
Spike
Buffy (in the Gift particularly,but also in Chosen)
Dawn( she had grown so much)
Lindsey McDonald,so amazing that scene. 🙂

 

[Still a Scoobie]

I'd say Angel in "Not Fade Away" his I'm fighting weather I can win or not attitude is so inspirational.
Wesley,so sad,he never really got to enjoy anything for very long. He finally got what he wanted the most only to have it ripped away from him,only to die an painful,violently horrible death. One of the most emotional death scenes I've ever seen any place. On top of all of this Wesley was and is my favorite character on either show,so this was so very emotional.
OZ, i thought his exit from Buffy was very well done
Cordy,her death in you're Welcome was both surprising and deeply depressing.
Lorne in Not Fade Away,i love that this guy who was so kind and so sweet ,and always there for other people was put in a situation so against his own nature,it profoundly depressed him to have to kill anyone,but he did it because he was ever loyal to Angel and to AI,his friends came before himself,that's my Lorne .RIP Andy Hallet,i miss you. 🙂

SO many others to mention including:
Faith
Spike
Buffy (in the Gift particularly,but also in Chosen)
Dawn( she had grown so much)
Lindsey McDonald,so amazing that scene.

Lorne's TV ending was pretty good actually, I forgot about that (can't speak for the comics as I've never read them). Lindsey's wasn't bad either. Cordy's was OK, but for some reason I rejected it when I first thought about my answer. I can't remember why though.

I actually thought Cordy's death was pretty predictable but it was still a good bit of story.

 

[thetopher]

I also should mention that I like the end of 'Chosen' with everybody looking out at the crater of Sunnydale, having won the day. It's a nice contrast to the rain-sodden battle in 'Not Fade Away'. Nice to have the feeling of triumph at the end there.

I also agree that I'm glad that Faith and Dawn (my two favourites from S7 by far) made it and were all smiles.

Agreed about Oz leaving in 'New Moon Rising'- he handled the fact that the woman he loves has moved on to somebody else with real dignity. I wished him and his van well. 🙂

I do like Lindsey's send off in S2 'Dead End'- his evil hand speech was fantastic, absolutely killer! 🙂
And his return in S5 of Angel was both surprising and welcome.

 

[Still a Scoobie]

I also should mention that I like the end of 'Chosen' with everybody looking out at the crater of Sunnydale, having won the day. It's a nice contrast to the rain-sodden battle in 'Not Fade Away'. Nice to have the feeling of triumph at the end there.

I think there's a lot of triumph in the last scene of Angel. It is a very different kind of triumph to the kind at end of Buffy... though.

 

[BuffyIsMyAlways]

I think that when it comes to character endings in both Buffy and Angel, so many amazing characters had endings that were just as amazing as the characters themselves. Some endings hurt a lot more than others, but the way that their stories came to a close were done so well.

In my opinion, it's a tie between these three:

-Cordelia's end in You're Welcome was beautifully done in my opinion, and although shatters my heart into one million pieces, provides really good closure for Cordy, and between her and Angel.

Darla's end in Lullaby makes me cry every time. I adore Darla, and I hated to see her go. Her ending was AMAZING though, and I loved how the last thing that she did was for someone else, and not for herself.

Doyle's end in Hero goes without explanation.

Honorable mentions: Buffy in The Gift, Spike in Chosen, Wesley in Not Fade Away

 

[BuffyElevated]

I absolutely loved the way Anya died (loved as in was completely heartbroken for her and for Xander). I thought she went out in true hero's fashion. She was doing what she thought was right to help fight the good fight. She didn't get any huge recognition for what she did, but she died valiantly. I thought it was beautiful and so utterly sad.