Lucy shares our sentiments.
Reporter: The book ends on an ambiguous note. We don't know—do you think [the young lovers] get back together in six months like they promised each other?
Jesse: I think how you answer that is a good test if you're a romantic or a cynic. You think they get back together; you don't, for sure; and you hope they do, but you're not sure.
Jesse: I think how you answer that is a good test if you're a romantic or a cynic. You think they get back together; you don't, for sure; and you hope they do, but you're not sure.
— Before Sunset, commenting in-universe on the ending of Before Sunrise
Sometimes the resolution isn't clear-cut. There's a lot left unexplained and the audience is still asking questions. Usually done so that different people can come to different conclusions.
Compare Gainax Ending, which is just plain confusing, and No Ending, in which there's no resolution, period.
If there are two possible outcomes, one reasonable and one magical, it's Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane. In a horror context, see Nothing Is Scarier. When fans wish this would have happened, but it didn't, then it is a case of Fan-Disliked Explanation. When the protagonist is up against something they'd have no logical chance of overcoming, see Bolivian Army Ending. For the romantic version of this trope, see Maybe Ever After.
Contrast Happy Ending and Downer Ending, where the conclusion is obvious, Bittersweet Ending, which is ambiguous about the happiness of the resolution, but not on the events themselves, and Allegedly Optimistic Ending, which seems happy until the audience actually thinks about it.
An ambiguous ending can lead to Wild Mass Guessing among the fanbase about the specific details. It may even turn the work into a Fanfic Fuel for fans that try to fill the gaps of the ending and provide more clear explanations.
Super-Trope to Ambiguous Clone Ending. Sub-Trope of Ambiguous Situation. If a negative ambiguous ending is subverted, see Shock-and-Switch Ending.
As this is an Ending Trope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.
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Anime & Manga
- In the anime adaptation of Baccano! the old man and granddaughter decide the story is better off with no ending, so the audience can imagine what happens next. While the anime does set up future plot points that would later be explored in the original novels, it was Cut Short due to poor ratings and sales in Japan.
- Captain Earth: Do Daichi and Hana survive the destruction of the Blume, or do they die?
- One of the most classic examples is the ending of Cowboy Bebop, "The Real Folk Blues (Part 2)"; after his final fight with Vicious, Spike limps down the stairs to find an armed guard surrounding him, only to raise his hand in a gun shape and say "Bang," before collapsing. The series director, Shinichirō Watanabe, purposefully keeps the ambiguous tone in interviews, saying that Spike was "probably just sleeping".
- In the finale of the second season of Code Geass, Lelouch is apparently killed by his friend, Suzaku, dressed in the infamous Zero outfit, after having planned to make the world hate him, so as to unite in peace after his assassination. This is all well and good, until at the very end C.C. is being pulled along in a wagon driven by a man with hidden features, during which time she talks about how she was wrong about the isolating nature of Geass, addressing Lelouch as though he may be alive. This is further supported by Nunnally receiving visions of Lelouch's memories upon touching him after his assassination, encouraging the theory that Lelouch absorbed his father's Code during his final confrontation with him, becoming immortal upon getting impaled rather than dying.
- Count Cain: A grown-up Merryweather sees the Hargreaves ring next to a teacup and thinks Cain kept his promise of having tea with her. It turns out that Cleahadol was the one to leave the ring there, and flashes back to what seems to be moments after the series' climax. He finds the skeletal remains of Riff with glass shards in his back, draped around Cain. Cain has his eyes closed, but no blood on him. Cleahadol himself mentions that he isn't sure if he really did hear Cain talk or it was his ability as a medium letting him speak to Cain's spirit, but he was told to leave the ring with Merryweather eventually. It's not made clear if Cain was dead or simply chose to remain with his dead servant. Kaori Yuuki said she felt this ending was perfect for the series, as it went well with the overall feeling and leaving this mystery open.
- The conclusion of A Cruel God Reigns. It's not really clear whether Jeremy and Ian become a couple, or where their relationship will go from there.
- Doraemon: Occurs in "A World Without Sound". Noby and Doraemon speak to the "What if? Box" and tell it to take away the sound from the world. They plan to later tell the device to turn the world back to normal. However, the way Noby and Doraemon get home is left up to the reader's interpretation. They can't tell the "What if?" Box to bring the sound back because they can't speak to it. Some readers think the "What if?" Box can detect their handwriting, though this isn't stated anywhere in the comic.
- Downfall (2017): The final chapter can be interpreted in numerous ways. Either Fukuzawa has given up on making real art to make a successful commercial product and is caught off guard by how his art can still positively affect people when he interacts with a fan of his, or Fukusawa is moved to tears because he's realized that the "worthless art" that made him successful is the only thing that allows him to connect with others.
- The 88th Shogakukan Short Manga Contest Winner Giant Tortoise Killing
ends with the titular rampaging monster being successfully defeated by Makoto with her spear, fists and her best friend's cheering for her. The final panel shows Makoto lying on the defeated giant tortoise with her eyes closed. The author confirms that they intended to leave it to the audiences' interpretation whether she's dead for good (likely because she swore revenge on it after it killed her family in the middle of the story), or she's survived/only passed out after defeating the giant tortoise.
- Granbelm: The story ends with a transfer student joining the class Shingetsu is sitting in and the ethereal glow on Shingetsu due to being doomed to live forever but never exist disappears. While her narration and reaction hints that it may be Mangetsu reborn, the episode ends before showing the girl's face or if people can see Shingetsu.
- Odd Taxi ends with Sakura Wadagaki, the girl who performed a Kill and Replace on up and coming idol Yuki Mitsuya, hopping in the back of Odokawa's taxi. Sakura knows that Odokawa was the one who drove her to the place where she murdered Yuki, but why she's getting in his taxi again is left unanswered — is she here to tie up one last loose end and murder Odokawa? Is she trying to get out of town before the truth of her crimes comes up? The show leaves this question hanging, though it is strongly implied that Odokawa figured out that she is the killer. The ambiguity is cleared up in the movie Odd Taxi: In the Woods and the spin off RoOT/Route of Odd Taxi where it is revealed that Sakura did try to murder Odokawa but failed and was finally arrested.
- Oyaji: While the story makes it clear that Oyaji is terminally ill, his impending death is never shown or alluded to, at the end Oyaji simply disappears after making sure to pass all the knowledge of life and love his wife and children needed before his time was up; all is framed as if Oyaji was a force of nature who appeared to do his job and then left when it was done.
- Shi ni Aruki: While an explanation for most of the events throughout the manga is given in the final chapter, the notion that Tokiko has been Dead All Along and many of the deaths were the result of a curse attached to her that required those deaths to keep her alive isn't treated as the definitive answer, and the manga ends with both the remaining characters and the audience alike wondering if everything was due to a supernatural curse or just unfortunate coincidence.
- Suicide Club ends with Kyoko surviving the mass suicide perpetuated by her friend Saya, who has been possessed by a malevolent spirit called "Mitsuko". Kyoko is crying for Saya in the same way that Saya, who survived a previous mass suicide, was crying for Mitsuko, and posts from a BBS on the last page strongly imply that Kyoko has or will become the next "Mitsuko", although it's not clear when those posts were made so it's not for certain whether or not the cycle really has continued.
- Tomorrow's Joe's ambiguous ending of Joe slumping down in the ring corner is so famous that many people recognize it from homages and parodies without knowing where it came from.
- The result of the duel between Yugi and Jonouchi in the final episode of the Battle City arc of Yu-Gi-Oh! is never shown. Many fans actually beleive that Jonouchi won, seeing as it's the most likely reason why he got his Red Eyes B. Dragon card back (which he told Yugi to keep in an early episode of the arc, but which he has in the next arc; since Yugi and Jonouchi were still playing by Battle City rules, the ante rule presumably still stood). In fact, that was the biggest reason why he told Yugi to hold onto it; he didn't think he deserved to use it until he was a strong enough duelist to prove it.
- Likewise, the ending to Yu-Gi-Oh! GX was left deliberately ambiguous. The final episode consisted of a duel between Jaden and Yugi, and although there was no official ending, it can be implied that Jaden won.
Audio Plays
- 36 Questions ends with Jase and Judith finishing the 36 questions in person after spending years apart, but there is no explanation as to if they got back together eventually.
- Jeff the Killer (Pastra): The story's final chapter has Jeff and Liu battling it out in a kitchen, both with blades in hand. The narration tells us that after the fight, only one brother survived, but it is never clarified which one.
Comic Books
- The Avengers: During Roy Thomas's run, an incident with interdimensional travel sends some of the team to Earth-712, home of the Squadron Supreme. On their return, Vision ponders if they have actually returned to their home universe at all. (Any ambiguity goes out the window given this is never brought up again. It is their Earth and they're fine.)
- Batman: Damned: Zatanna sends Batman and Constantine back in time to the night Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered. The Enchantress attempts to seal her deal with Bruce, but Constantine shoots and kills the young Bruce and the Enchantress. Constantine explains that he merely killed Batman's past and encourages him to let it go. In the present, the Spectre reveals to Batman that he let the Joker fall to his death. Batman, regretting his decision, visits the morgue to see the Joker's corpse, only to find his own, his spirit subsequently dissipating. A living Joker then emerges from the river underneath the bridge.
- Black Magick: The comic ends with Rowan having taken her powers to Reality Warper levels while saving her girlfriend Nichole and best friend Alex. This is just what The White Demon desired, as it's stated to corrupt a witch. However, we don't see if Rowan is an exception, or what happens next.
- Convergence:
- Convergence: Crime Syndicate #2. While some of the Crime Syndicate is shown in the main Convergence title, the ending of the second issue leaves it unclear as to who won the battle, Superwoman or the Justice Legion's Wonder Woman. For that matter, the fates of the rest of the Justice Legion is left unclear.
- The ending of Convergence: World's Finest Comics #2. Is the Vigilante dead? Will the Crimson Avenger survive? And what exactly happens to Scribbly and the Shining Knight?
- Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again ends with Deadpool killing the Red Skull for using him as a weapon against the heroes — only for the Skull's decapitated head to mock him and state that Wade's mind was so screwed up that he can't tell what's real or a delusion at this point.
- Flashpoint (1999)'s ending leaves it ambiguous as to whether Barry has been transported to another universe or is just imagining it as he dies.
- In "Wolf Bait!" in The Haunt of Fear #13, a sleigh full of people with sympathetic backstories is being chased by ravenous wolves through the Russian countryside. After the guard runs out of bullets they decide to sacrifice one of the passengers so the rest can escape. The chosen victim is deliberately not specified.
- In the final issue of The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing, the two Jokers finally face each other and fight it out over the name. After a knife fight, Red Hood smashing a blimp into a train to get rid of the Joker Toxin and a second knife fight in the river, a Joker surfaces from the water, naked save for a scrap of purple clothing on and holding the head of the other Joker. Since their faces are all cut up, missing most of their hair and their clothes gone, it's impossible to tell which Joker they are. Even more, the comic ends just as the narration sets itself to reveal the answer. It's a very Joker thing.
- Justice League Adventures: In issue #24 "Alien Like Me":
Superman:"Are the Newells now alien energy forms or humans kept alive by alien batteries?"
Martian Manhunter: "They are all of those things and more." - In The Killing Joke, Batman pleas with Joker to put aside their conflict before one of them kills the other, and offers to help rehabilitate him. The Joker ruefully remarks that it's too late for him, and tells a joke which prompts him, and surprisingly enough, Batman, to laugh. Batman puts his hands on the Joker's shoulders, and the panels gradually tilt down to their silhouettes in a puddle, where it appears Joker's head is jerking back, either from laughing so hard or because Batman's hands are now gripped around his neck. Or he could still just be holding onto his shoulders. Either way, it ends with the two of them still laughing, as their silhouettes in the puddle are broken up by raindrops, and the red and blue lights of approaching police cars. To this day, fans still debate whether or not Batman finally killed the Joker at the end of the story.
- At the end of The Long Halloween, it is unclear who the Holiday Killer is. Alberto Falcone confesses to the killings, but Harvey Dent is suspected to be to be the real killer. However at the very end Gilda Dent confesses in an inner monologue to some of the murders while believing Harvey Dent is responsible for the rest of the murders. Not to mention Batman repeatedly suspects Calendar Man is the killer. There is plenty of evidence supporting and disproving all four suspects for one, some, or all of the murders.
- Shakara: Shakara stops his evil counterpart Brenneka's plan to destroy reality in time by trapping both of them inside the God Engine's implosion. The evil Hierarchy collapses and peace mostly returns to the cosmos. Then a yellow Shakara (Shakara #1 was red and Brenneka was blue) emerges from a crashed ship in another reality, leaving it ambiguous whether this is a reincarnation of the main Shakara, some combination of him and Brenneka, or a new entity altogether.
- Ultimate X-Men (2001): The team ceased to exist, along with all the Ultimate Marvel universe, during an incursion in Secret Wars (2015). The universe was restored at the end of Spider-Men II, and we saw Parker back as Spider-Man and a new line-up of the Ultimates (including several characters were dead even before the Ultimate Universe was destroyed), but the fate of the X-Men is not given.
- Watchmen: Adrian's plan of saving the world from World War III at the expense of half the population of New York worked, but was it the right thing to do? And because Rorschach's journal is floating around out there, will the newfound peace last? Will The New Frontiersman publish the diary (since they'd refused to do so at first), and if they do, will anyone take them seriously? Dr. Manhattan rather effectively (and somewhat ironically) sums up the situation before taking his leave of Earth.
Adrian Veidt: I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end.
Dr. Manhattan: "In the end?" Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.
Comic Strips
- In Peanuts it was a Running Gag that Lucy never lets Charlie Brown kick the football, always pulling it away from him at the last minute. In the last strip featuring this, Lucy is called by her mother for lunch, so she lets her little brother Rerun hold the ball for her. Charlie Brown charges at the football, and... AND... cut to later, at the Van Pelt house:
Lucy: What happened? Did you pull the ball away? Did he kick it? What happened?
Rerun: You'll never know...
Lucy: AAUGH!
Fan Works
- The Bridge had a special called "Rise and Fall of C.C.I" covering the events of the Amalgam Universe's version of Godzilla 2000. In it the end, Mitsuo Katagiri and Godzilla Junior come face to face again for the first time in years. Katagiri had tortured Junior in his toddler days with a shock collar and it's clear the now adult Godzilla remembers him. Junior walks up to the building Katagiri was standing on and they stare each other down for a time with Katagiri calmly speculating how Godzilla will take his revenge. However Godzilla turns and walks off, but his tails brushes up against the building and Katagiri goes over the edge to fall to his death. Whether or not Junior intentionally caused the fall, if he was just weary from the fight with Orga and it was an clumsy accident, or if Katagiri jumped by his own volition is left unanswered.
- Cass Apocalypse Series: In Chapter 8, Casey Jr is bitten by an Oozesquito and mutated into a turtle (much like his sensei and uncles). Knowing that Draxum's the only one with any knowledge of how to reverse it, Master Donatello calls him. When the two are alone, however, Casey Jr admits that he kind of likes how being a turtle mutant makes him closer to his family. Draxum mentions he can make a cloaking amulet for him, allowing him to take the appearance of whichever he wants. By the end of the chapter, it's clear that Draxum made him the cloaking amulet... but it isn't stated if Casey's a human with an optional mutant illusion, or a mutant using a human illusion.
- Dæmorphing ends with Toby deciding to Shapeshifter Mode Lock themself one more time. What they morph into is left unsaid.
- Danganronpa The Engine leaves it up to the readers what happened to the survivors after they stop the train, as well as whether or not they actually killed the Conductor.
- Death of the Wrong Boy: The ending leaves Voldemort's fate ambiguous. It's made clear that he's still around and hasn't been defeated and could potentially return, but that his former followers are currently not interested in taking up his cause.
- homesick (if it helps you breathe) follows an alternate ending of season 2 of Amphibia, where Anne, Sasha and Marcy end up trapped in Amphibia indefinitely when Sasha destroys the Calamity Box in order to thwart the Big Bad. After several years of adjusting to living in Amphibia and dealing with their emotional fallout in different ways, Sasha is ultimately able to recreate the Box after all, but when opening a portal to Earth, the girls initially find themselves uncertain where home truly is for them, before coming to a mutual agreement that is left unspoken.
- The Joestar Chronicles: Joriko Kujo's chapter has her fall in love twice: first her fellow Crusder Noriaki Kakyoin before his canonical death, and second with Marino (the male version of Jotaro's canon wife). The chapter ends with the Irene-verse following Chronicle's own version of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, with Joriko's reincarnate waking up next to her partner, who is deliberatly left vague if he is the Irene-verse version of Kakyoin or Marino.
- My Little Animaniacs: Due to the author not having any ideas for the climax in the final chapter, he had to take a suggestion from a reader, and virtually nothing about the Big Bad is explained, including the method that the ponies and Animaniacs use to defeat it.
- Pony Pals: Dirk Strider Edition ends with Pawnee making her choice as to whether the book should be destroyed to what it used to be. It's not stated which choice she makes.
- Reality Check (MHA): After Shinsou is expelled from U.A., All Might asks him just what he would do with himself after becoming a Pro Hero. Rather than trying to discourage Shinsou, he impresses upon him just how difficult a career path it is, and that it will only get harder the further he goes. Shinsou is left questioning his own motivations; did he only want to become a Hero to spite his bullies? Does he still want to become a Hero, after everything? The story ends without him reaching a conclusion.
- The The Loud House fanfic Requiem for a Loud ends in this manner. The story is about Lincoln being diagnosed with an incurable disease that will kill him in a matter of weeks. During the story, the characters come to terms with Lincoln's fate, but Lisa tries her best to find a cure for her brother. Her attempts to cure him during the story fail and at one point Lincoln even tells her to stop since she's obviously neglecting her own health, but at the end of the final chapter Lincoln is still alive (with even him not knowing how much time he has left) and he knows there's always a chance that Lisa might continue her attempts to cure him.
- Rivalry (Winds Carry Far): Upon learning that his punishment for failing the Joint Practical exam is being forced to retake U.A.'s Entrance Exam and repeat a year, Monoma panics — all his posturing and braggartry hides a Inferiority Superiority Complex, and he's terrified that he won't actually be able to achieve what's being asked of him. While both Vlad King and Kendou insist that he's more capable than he realizes, the story ends without any clear indication as to whether or not he believes their words of encouragement, with his future similarly left up in the air.
- To-Love-DEATH ends with several characters escaping the school by helicopter, but the city has already succumbed to a zombie invasion. The story leaves them still in the chopper.
- Unreal ends with Asuka and Rei leaving the alternate reality created by Commander Ikari to reunite with Shinji in their original, post-apocalyptic world. AT night, the trio wonders what will happen next: Will people believe Asuka's research and come to the real world with them? Will Gendo send a rescue group to bring them back, since his wife will kill if he doesn't gets her kids back? Or will they remain alone in the world? The story concludes with the trio walking back to their camp, wondering what tomorrow will bring but choosing to enjoy the present moment.
- Vulkan Ascendant ends with Vulkan choosing to embrace godhood despite the risks and secede Nocturne from the Imperium; a Distant Finale than reveals that Nocturne was shortly thereafter consumed by a Warpstorm and hasn't been heard from since. Word of God is that it's up to the reader to decide what happened: was Vulkan consumed by his own divinity exactly the way the Emperor said he'd be, becoming a new Chaos God and consuming his world in a Warpstorm the way Slaanesh did when it was born? Or did he remain himself in spite of it all, becoming a God of Good and creating the Warpstorm to shelter Nocturne from the wrath of the Imperium and Chaos alike?
- When They See, They'll Understand: After Izuku took Katsuki's "advice" and was Driven to Suicide, a guilt-ridden Katsuki accepts Mei's offer to create a Replacement Goldfish, which goes horribly, HORRIBLY wrong. After the dust settles, Katsuki decides to visit Inko and reveal the role he played in Izuku's death. Whether or not she accepts his apology is left unresolved.
- Who We Are ends with the changeling among the Mane Six finally revealing herself to the others, but it's never revealed to the reader who it is.
- Would It Matter If I Was centers around Fluttershy posing the title question to Twilight, asking whether or not it would matter if she was secretly a Changeling. The original story leaves it unclear if she actually is or merely posed the question in order to challenge Twilight's worldview and get her thinking about Fantastic Racism.
Films — Animation
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad: The whole ending of the Sleepy Hollow segment. Was the Headless Horseman real, or Bram Bones in disguise? Did he/it really kill Ichabod, or just scare him out of town?
- Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?: The bauble is destroyed by the drunkard firework craftsman firing it, and Norimichi grabs one of the shards, showing glimpses of possible futures. He dives into the sea to be with Nazuna, and they kiss and converse a bit more before she swims away. The next day, Nazuna's seat in class is empty and Norimichi is absent. Did they successfully elope? Did they drown in the sea? Was everything that happened in between Nazuna getting dragged off by her mother and the next day scene merely Norimichi's fantasy like in the original short? Is there some other explanation for the couple's absence? We never find out.
- Flatland ends with A. Square being (accidentally) rescued from his attackers by the norther army; before one of them turns to attack him since he has no color. But then the soldier disappears, everything gets trippy, A. square begins losing consciousness, and suddenly a bright light appears welcoming him. Fin.
- Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa ends with Alphonse and Edward together but on the wrong side of the Gate. What happens on the right side is a mystery and it's unknown if they ever reunite with their friends. If they don't then what are their lives like after?. Somewhat addressed in the Kids OVA. It shows Ed's grandchildren in our world, coming to visit an aged version of him, ending with text saying that somewhere in our world Ed turned one hundred in 2005. However, in this case, it was stated by Word of God that it was merely a What If? scenario and not intended to be taken as the final ending of the series.
- Soul (2020): At the very end, Joe is returned to his body for a second chance and is asked what he's going to do with his life now. He himself states that doesn't know for sure, but whatever he does, he'll make sure to make the most of it. The movie's ending is open-ended enough that it seems to purposely invite viewers to draw their own conclusions for what Joe did next (whether it was going back to being a music teacher at school, going back to join Dorothea William's band, or something else entirely).
- A Bird Hit My Window and Now I'm a Lesbian: At the end of the film, Gray is left alone in a soaked bathroom, with Fionn being absent, with the ending being ambiguous over if Fionn was real or not. Nevertheless, it's heavily implied that Gray is finally ready to move on, having accepted herself.
Literature
- Afternoon of the Elves: Was Sara-Kate just lying about the elves the whole time? Despite all the evidence in support of this conclusion, the finale still leaves you with a whisper of doubt. Maybe, just maybe...
- The Bell Jar: Esther undergoes shock treatment for her depression. The book ends just as she's about to meet with the consultant to see if she has recovered and can be discharged. The final line is the ambiguous "I stepped into the room."
- The book version of Brooklyn has an ambiguous ending. Eilish breaks it off with Jim and gets back on the boat to America. She's not sure if she's done the right thing and the book ends with her trying not to think about it. The film changes this to a more direct happy ending, where Eilish is seen reuniting happily with Tony in New York.
- Coffin Moon: After Varley is dead, Julia leaves to fulfill her promise to Adeline, and Duane is left alone. He weighs his options: he can either live as a vampire, killing others to stay alive, or kill himself by using the final silver bullet or walking outside in the daytime. The story ends before he makes his decision.
- A Colder Home ends with someone grabbing Cleo's hand — the reader never finds out who it is.
- Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 ends with the secret of the titular property, and at least the beginning of the solution to the novel's mysteries, about to be revealed.
- A Day of Fallen Night: The last point-of-view section for Dumai is her gravely wounded on the shore when one of the Eastern dragon gods offers to save her life. She weighs her options, realizing that to live and return to the capital will make her the focus of a civil war, and so she chooses the other way, seemingly making a quiet Heroic Sacrifice now that her country has been saved from the fire-breathing wyrms. The epilogue for the East is narrated by her widow Nikeya, who has a visit from Mount Ipeyda's new Maiden Officiant, the position that Dumai thought she would inherit and had wanted her whole life. Nikeya's reaction implies that this is really Dumai, but it isn't confirmed.
- Devolution: Katie's journal, which formed the main narrative of the story, ends after recounting the Final Battle with the Sasquatches, and she and Palomino (the only other human survivor) were gone by the time a rescue team found the ruins of Greenloop. As such, there's no concrete evidence about what happened to them, leading to in-universe speculation and multiple theories about their fates, none of which are confirmed.
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul: It's never revealed in this book or the later books whether Greg tells his family that the key to the locker at the water park was in his shorts after all, which would have saved everyone so much trouble had it been found earlier, or not.
- Dinosaur Vs: The ending to "Dinosaur vs. the Potty" shows Dinosaur standing in front of the toilet with the words "The potty wins. Close, one, Dinosaur; real close". It's unclear whether the potty won because Dinosaur wet himself, or if it won by him giving in and using the bathroom despite not wanting to.
- "The Door (Creepypasta)": The story leaves most of its questions unanswered. The cause of the shifting architecture is never confirmed beyond the suggestion of Sleep Deprivation-induced hallucinations, and even after the protagonist moves out after two unknown beings try to get through the door, nightmares of them continue to haunt their mind each night, and they insist that every door in the apartment stays open to never see any displaced doorways or gaps in the walls ever again.
- During The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag, Michelle and her Robot Buddy Skip travel across California toward an uncertain destination. When they get there, it is revealed that Skip is her little brother, who has been stuck in a "neurocaster" (a kind of virtual reality device) and has been controlling the robot remotely. Michelle manages to feed him a little, so he's not as far gone as many who get addicted to the device, but is nervous about unhooking him from it. She knows she will have to try, though. We see, in pictures, the aftermath of her attempt, with her car, the inert robot, and the neurocaster at the beach, but whether Skip survived is never stated.
- The Fault in Our Stars, it is left unclear how much longer Hazel (who has terminal cancer) will live, if at all. In-universe, she is frustrated that her favorite book, in which the protagonist also has cancer, ends on an ambiguous note. She travels to Amsterdam to ask the author what happens after the book ends, but he has no answer for her. Later, he feels guilty and reaches out to her to say he now has an answer, but at that point Hazel no longer cares.
- A Fine and Private Place: Rebeck's plan to help the ghostly couple Michael and Laura requires him to leave the cemetery, in the process ending whatever it was that allowed him to interact with ghosts. The steps of the plan are carried out successfully, but he, and thus the audience, is left with no way of learning whether it actually had the intended effect.
- The short story "Gabriel-Ernest" by Hector Hugh Munro ends with one concerning the Ambiguously Evil titular character: was his vanishing a result of a Senseless Sacrifice to try and save the Toop child, or him fleeing the scene after feasting upon them? Most of the residents believe the former version of events, whereas Van Cheele believes the latter. Not helping matters is the fact that while several people overheard the incident regarding him, nobody actually saw it.
- Heroes ends without revealing what Francis intends to do next after obtaining closure over both LaSalle and Nicole.
- The Hollow: Did Gerda drink the poisoned tea accidentally, or did she believe that Poirot's appearance meant that he had figured out her scheme, and so intentionally killed herself rather than face justice?
- Housekeeping: Rather than let Ruthie be taken into foster care, Sylvie burns down their house. While their neighbors put out the blaze, the two of them flee Fingerbone forever. Ruthie then reveals the two of them are currently living in Boston and that she never saw Lucille again. It ends the novel on a decidedly unresolved note.
- I Had That Same Dream Again ends with Nanoka and Kiryu in an art gallery. What's said between them in the last page isn't revealed, but they apparently left together and it's implied that he asked her to at least be his girlfriend, if not full-on proposed to her.
- Jeffty Is Five has an ending that's not ambiguous...but apparently, and much to the frustration of Harlan Ellison, some readers just didn't get what fate had befallen the titular Jeffty. When the story was reprinted in the collection Troublemakers, meant for young adult readers, Ellison refused to spell it out, but added two clues: houses made before circuit breakers were common issue would see all the lights flicker and briefly go dim when there was a massive electrical short, and prisons that used the electric chair would experience similar occurances when the switch was thrown to execute the condemned.
- The Jew's Beech: Did Friedrich really commit the murder? Was he his cousin Johannes under a false identity? Why does he hang himself at the Jew's Beech? The novella leaves several crucial questions unanswered.
- Julia (2023): Julia escapes from Oceania and joins the Brotherhood of Free Men, but the book leaves it ambiguous whether or not the Brotherhood is actually better than the Party.
- Nadine Gordimer's novel July's People, an imagination of the violent collapse of South African apartheid centered around one white family and their black servant (the title characters) as they try to keep themselves together while fleeing, has this. The last chapter reverts to the present tense, and ends with the mother running toward a just-landed helicopter, unsure whether the occupants could be "saviours or murderers."
- "The Lady, or the Tiger?": It's up to the reader to decide what the princess — forced to choose whether to send her lover to another woman or to his death — ultimately decided.
- Nadine Gordimer's The Late Bourgeois World ends with the protagonist undecided over whether or not to take an action that would reveal a disturbing family secret.
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Was the Headless Horseman that chased Ichabod Crane really the legendary ghost, or was it Brom Bones in disguise? And what happened to Ichabod? Was he killed, either by the Horseman or by Brom, or just frightened away by (who he thought was) the Horseman? While it's strongly implied that the Horseman was Brom in disguise, and that Ichabod merely fled and moved on to a prosperous new life in New York City, in the end the truth is left for the reader to decide.
- Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger never reveals whether there was anything supernatural at Hundreds Hall and ends with the protagonist futilely searching for a ghost. The Film of the Book, however, makes its stance in the Science Versus Magic debate clear.
- The Man with a Thousand Legs: Harry Olson discovers the etheric vibrations box amidst the trash and experimentally puts a grasshopper inside. Like Arthur's test subjects, the grasshopper becomes "ooze" and it scurries away at an impressive speed. Every other transmutated lifeform was powerful, ever-growing, perpetually hungry, and only stopped existing because they were killed. On account of its size, the grasshopper is harmless to anything but other bugs but if it eats enough it seems that there are no limitations on how big it can grow. The destruction of the box is presented as the end of the transmutation danger, but that grasshopper remains at large.
- In The Miracle of Edessa, Euphemia's future fate is deliberately left up in the air, with the author speculating she might have married again, lived on as a widow, or taken the veil.
- Miranda And Caliban: For the most part, the tale ends as the The Tempest does, but for two key details.
- Prospero destroys all his magic charms and his sanctum in fire, but Miranda thinks she catches a glimpse of metal tucked up his sleeve, leaving it unknown whether he really could give up his power.
- Miranda promises Caliban that even though she's stuck with Ferdinand, she will be able to send for him some day, and be together in some fashion. It's left completely open whether or not that ever happens.
- A Necklace of Fallen Stars: Kaela ends "Bottled Palindrome" with Muffum asking Snuggles' if he's actually a sorcerer-king in disguise, only for him to change his mind regarding an answer. This is deliberate on her part, for she wants her audience to come up with an answer for themselves.
- While the main plot of Nineteen Eighty-Four unambiguously ends on one of the most infamous Downer Endings of all time, the appendix, which details Newspeak, is worded in such a way that it could be interpreted as being set in the book's universe, and it notably talks about Ingsoc in the past tense and in Oldspeak. This could imply that at some point after the book, O'Brien will be proven wrong and the future will not be a boot on someone's face forever. Either that, or readers are desperately trying to look for a glimmer of hope in a very bleak book.
- "Place of Meeting": The vampires go to sleep to wait for the day that will see the rise of a new civilization and with that new blood for them to drink. The older vampires, who claim to have already been through this situation before, are calm and collected but a sense of defeat also hangs over them. Considering rot is still a thing, bacteria and fungi must still exist, but if the vampires sought well and there's truly nothing left but bacteria and fungi, they are going to wait millions of years for that next drink and that's if nothing else goes wrong. The best hope for the vampires is that they are lousy searchers and that there are survivors after all.
- Somewhat subverted with The Princess Bride. It has a Bolivian Army Ending which leaves it questionable whether the heroes where able to escape and survive. However, William Goldman commented that they did make it, and seeing as he's the author, you can probably take his word on that. The film adaptation (also written by Goldman) makes the happy ending more explicit.
- Tané's ending in The Priory of the Orange Tree. She visits the statue of her ancestor Neporo, one of the warriors who first fought the Nameless One and whose descendants carried the Waning Jewel stiched into their sides, and goes to sleep beneath it. The chapter ends by saying that a while later, there was "blood on her side" while a butterfly (believed in the East to carry the spirits of the dead) is cupped in her hand... and that's it.
- Safehold: Throughout much of the series, the protagonists seeking to restore lost technology to Safehold and reveal its history as a Lost Colony have had hanging over their heads the promised return of the "Archangels" who locked Safehold in its Medieval Stasis to begin with. Not knowing if they could stand up to any Archangels that decide to show up, how they would appear, or if they are going to do so at all, their chosen course is to bring advanced technology back as far and as widely as they can to make it impossible for the Archangels to hit a Reset Button without having to destroy the very human race they had adopted their God Guise to protect. At the end of the tenth book, the first of two possible deadlines for their arrival passes without apparent incident, prompting the protagonists to begin the next stage of their plans. The final scene of the book ends in a distant cathedral of the disgraced Order of Schueler, whose leader had been the previous Big Bad, where an image of the Archangel Schueler himself appears and begins to tell the assembled congregants the truth about Safehold. It's left unexplained whether this is the next stage the protagonists had discussed or the Archangel arrival that the protagonists had so worried about.
- The Scarecrow Murders (HoodQuest): Most of the mystery is left unsolved as it's written by someone who recalls what they read about it and ends with their intent to go to Moorefield and investigate the truth. It's left unknown what caused the deaths of more citizens after the original killer, Joseph Banks, was caught, or what Harold Barker was doing inside a scarecrow like the hidden corpses were if he was the one who "continued Banks' work".
- Scarlet Sister Mary: Mary is an Ethical Slut who simply refuses to follow the conventional morality of her early 20th century African American community, and as a consequence has a whole brood of illegitimate children over twenty years. But after her oldest son dies and she has a dream telling her that it was punishment for her sexually liberated ways, she has a religious conversion. She repents her sins, rejoins the church, and gets re-baptized. However, at the very end of the book the Witch Doctor asks for the love-charm back, assuming that Mary won't need it. She refuses, and in the very last line says "I couldn' gi way my love-charm. E's all I got now to keep me young." So, did Mary repent of her Ethical Slut ways, or not?
- At the end of SD Gundam The Last World, Gundam The Gold is beaten and realizes that the G-Souls were his allies all along. He then decides to take all of G-Souls with him to his world in order to prevent its destruction. At that point the story stops, not showing whether he succeeded or not.
- The ending of Shutter Island is unclear as to which "reality" is true. It is unclear whether Teddy has truly regressed, or if he wishes to "die" (at the very least, lose his ability for conscious thought, through lobotomy) in order to avoid living with the knowledge that his wife murdered their children and he is her murderer. The ending of the film is less ambiguous, and indicates that Teddy has made a conscious choice.
- The Southern Reach Trilogy ends with Control having died, but his death triggers a change in the Crawler. Grace and Ghost Bird leave the Crawler's tunnel and go past the remains of the Southern Reach. It's unknown whether there is a doorway out of Area X anymore and if the terraforming has extended to the rest of the Earth or if Control's death has made the Crawler realize that its mission was pointless.
- Storm Thief is probably the best example: the golem is floating randomly in the ocean, unable to control himself; the flotilla trying to escape the island has got away, but what they'll find on land (assuming they reach it) is totally uncertain; and the entire city is in the grip of the mother of all probability storms, meaning pretty much anything is possible there.
- In Becky Chambers' novella To Be Taught, If Fortunate, our astronauts are fourteen light-years away from an Earth that they learn has been deeply changed by a massive geomagnetic storm. As they come to the end of their scientific mission, they are unsure whether to return to Earth or, as they could be the last astronauts, travel a further thirteen light-years to a planet that might have intelligent life (which would be a one-way trip). They decide that as everything they achieved in space was on the shoulders of others, they cannot make that decision themselves. So they enter a deep sleep, and if they receive a 'Yes', they will awake and travel to the alien planet, 'No' and they will return to Earth, and if nothing, they will simply sleep until old age or equipment failure takes them.
- The Venus Prime series ends with Sparta and Blake going off in the world-ship, never to be seen again by the other characters.
- Charlotte Bronte's Villette ends with the narrator refusing to tell the reader whether or not her Love Interest survived his trip to the West Indies and returned to her. She says that the reader can believe so if they like. It comes across as a Snicket Warning Label without what comes after the label - something akin to a Bolivian Army Ending.
- Japanese picture book ''Yasashii Lion'' (meaning "The Kindly Lion"/The Gentle Lion") by Takashi Yanase ends with Buru-buru (a lion) and Muku-muku (a female dog and adopted mother) getting killed by group of policemen. However, the story states that both characters managed to survivie (as evident by Buru-buru bloody footprints in the snow) and left as far away as possible. The final illustration even shows both characters flying off into the moon.
Live-Action TV
- The Are You Afraid of the Dark episode The Tale of the Gruesome Gourmets never truly confirms or disproves wether or not the new neighbors are indeed cannibals.
- The next-to-last episode of Blindspot has Jane receive a new dose of Zip during her pursuit of the villain. It's then established that Jane will die if she doesn't receive the antidote, but she continues trying to prevent the villain's plan from succeeding. During her mission, she repeatedly hallucinates characters who died over the course of the series and ideal situations for her friends. After she thwarts the villain's plan, she collapses from her Zip infection. We then cut to her alive and well and going with Kurt to a family dinner. There, she has a vision that she actually died from the infection and everything since then has been a Dying Dream. The episode and series then end without confirming which is correct.
- Being Human (UK) ends its final season this way. Did Tom, Hal and Alex really become human again and have their happy ending? Or are they still stuck in one of the Devil's dream worlds?
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer has the episode where she was injected with a hallucinogen which made her believe that she is a mentally unbalanced girl in an asylum. She is inspired to fight back against her "psychosis" by trying to kill her friends. In the end, she snaps out of it and kills the monster of the week. It then cuts back to her in her "hallucination" where she has gone catatonic again. Is Buffy really just certifiable mental and the entire show is just in her head?
- In the Bunk'd episode "My Fairy Lady", it is left ambiguous who (or what) lit up the fairy houses that Matteo put up as an apology for being so adamant to prove Gwen and Willow wrong about fairies.
- The Series Finale of Chuck ends with Sarah, still having lost her memory, with Chuck on the same beach that was seen at the end of the pilot. Chuck tells Sarah that Morgan had a crazy idea that True Love's Kiss could restore her memory. The series ends with Sarah and Chuck kissing. While it was hinted that some flashes of her memories were returning, it is not made clear whether or not the kiss worked.
- Forbidden Science: In the last episode, "Home", it turns out that Big Bad Adrian Turner plans on achieving immortality by uploading his mind into the body of an android. Bethany is an android, with many sister models that share her appearance. She discovers this and goes to his house, with Adrian saying "Welcome home". Bethany smirks and it fades to black.
- In season 2 of Forbrydelsen, the killer confesses to all the murders attributed to him except one, which he claims, without evidence, was committed by Raben, telling the mentally ill man that he doesn't know of his own guilt because he blocked out the incident. Lund shoots the killer dead moments later, and it's never revealed whether or not he was telling the truth.
- The two-part Series Finale of Frasier ends somewhat ambiguously. After all his friends and family have gone on to start new chapters in their lives, the viewers are led to believe Frasier has accepted a new job in San Francisco, and assume the plane he is on (where he has been relating the story to a fellow passenger) is going there. However, the final scene shows it landing in Chicago, where Charlotte has moved. Frasier asks the other passenger to wish him luck, and the episode, along with the series, ends. Presumably, he wants to get back together with Charlotte, and it's up to the viewers to decide whether or not he's successful, and whether or not they live happily ever after.
- Jejak Suara Adzan: While the main story ends unambiguously, the romance subplot is "resolved" in The Stinger, when five years later, Zahra's husband is said to be bringing her some fruits. Dimas and Putra do it at the same time and the finale ends with no explanation about which one is the husband.
- Life on Mars (2006): Did Sam kill himself to go back to 1973? Is he still in a coma? Is he in the afterlife? Sequel Series Ashes to Ashes (2008) would later clear up the ambiguity.
- Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story: The final flashback, almost to the point of The Ending Changes Everything depending on what you believe.
- On one hand: Kitty and José's relationship is portrayed as improving, and they seem to be looking forward to the future, not plotting to kill their children. On the other hand: they don't mention their children at all, and we've been consistently shown how good José is at manipulating Kitty.
- More broadly, in spite of the show's attempt at "Rashomon"-Style storytelling, the show ultimately leans pretty heavily into the conclusions that Erik and Lyle were telling the truth about the sexual abuse, but the murders were premeditated and Kitty and José probably didn't have any immediate plans to kill their sons. So in the end, the moral calculus of the show depends on whether the viewer believes that the murders were justified if and only if José and Kitty were actively planning to kill their sons, or that the murders were an understandable reaction to the lifetime of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse José and Kitty inflicted on their sons even if Erik and Lyle's lives were not in imminent danger.
- Novoland: Eagle Flag: Asule and Ji Ye lead their combined armies into battle, they charge at the enemy, the scene fades out before the armies collide, cut to a shot of the city... and that's it. No definite confirmation that Asule and Ji Ye won, but also nothing to indicate they lost.
- The Canadian Made-for-TV Movie Radio Silence - (or if you saw it as a Lifetime Movie of the Week, When Murder Calls) or as it called elsewhere, The Chat Show Killer, ends with Dr. Jill Peterman alone in her studio with the murderer (who blames Dr. Jill for her daughter's suicide) holding her at gunpoint live on air ...The screen goes to black and we hear a gunshot, roll credits Before this we flashback to her very first show. implying...well you know. Although the film's established that Jill's armed, leaving it to the viewer to decide what happened. This not go down well with the movie's IMDb reviewers.
- The Sopranos has one of the most infamous ambiguous endings in "Made in America". After disposing of his arch-nemesis Phil Leotardo, Tony is seen taking his wife Carmela and son AJ to a diner, later to be joined by their daughter Meadow. It's seemingly an upbeat scene, with the exception of Tony discussing potential legal troubles on the horizon. Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" starts playing in the background, and you begin to see curious shots of seemingly random persons in the diner mixed in with shots of Tony and his family happily chomping down on onion rings. The music swells, an unseen person enters the restaurant, Tony looks up, and suddenly—cut to black, series over. Was Tony suddenly shot as the screen cut to black (perhaps by the man in the Member's Only jacket?), or no? This was left a mystery for years. However, in 2021, over ten years after the series' end, creator David Chase did call the last scene Tony's "death scene" but, when pressed, he declined to confirm whether he meant it figuratively or literally, besides from talking about his originally planned ending for the show where Tony definitely did get wacked.
- In Tatort, the run of the Berlin team Ritter and Stark. Till Ritter was Put on a Bus an episode before, so Felix Stark faces his last case alone, and it's left open if he survives being shot.
- The Twilight Zone (1959) episode "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank'' is about the titular Jeff who comes back from the dead and resumes his life. He is accused of being an evil monster but he convinces the townsfolk that he is not. He then lights a cigarette without a match. Maybe he is monster, just not an evil one.
- The mini-series Watchmen (2019) ends with protagonist Angela finding an egg that her husband, Cal/Jon Osterman/Dr. Manhattan (who'd just died) left her, with a voiceover of them talking about whether or not he can transfer his powers. He says that, theoretically, he could put his sub-atomic components into some sort of organic matter and if someone were to consume it, they could get his powers. She says that if she ate it she'd be able to "walk on water" and he says more than likely, yes. She takes the egg, goes outside to the pool, takes her shoes off, cracks the egg, and consumes the contents. The final shot of the show is her foot hovering about an inch off the surface of the pool's water while a cover of "I am the Walrus" by The Beatles plays.
Music
- The music video for "Lucky" by Britney Spears shows her crying in her bed which looks like the set of her movie. Is this real or just another performance?
- The Devil Comes Back to Georgia, a sequel of sorts to the famous Devil Went Down to Georgia by the Charlie Daniels Band. The Devil challenges Johnny to a fiddle-playing rematch. Johnny mentions that he's out of practice, since he's been focusing on fatherhood. The lyrics imply that he's too rusty to actually beat the devil again, but Johnny delivers a Badass Boast and a truly epic violin solo on par with the one he used to win the first contest. Unlike the first song, this one ends without saying who won the contest, leaving it ambiguous. The music video confirms the winner: Johnny once again defeats the Devil.
- "A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers" by Van Der Graaf Generator is about a lighthouse keeper who is filled with guilt about all the shipwrecks he's seen over the years and been unable to prevent. The last section has deliberately vague, ambiguous lyrics, and it's up to the listener whether he resolves to commit suicide or to rationalize the deaths as a natural risk and go on living in peace.
- Paul Kelly's "To Her Door" is about a marriage that starts to fall apart due to the man's alcoholism, ending in divorce and his wife and children moving to another town. In the last verse, his wife agrees to let him see her and the children and sends him a bus fare. Whether or not the meeting ever ends up taking place, let alone if it leads to a reconciliation, is left up in the air.
- Metallica's "Ride The Lightning" is about a prisoner sitting in the electric chair, and the unbearable anxiety of waiting for the executioner to finally throw the switch. The final lines (before one last repetition of the chorus), however, raise the possibility that it was All Just a Dream and that the protagonist wakes up safe and sound from his nightmare; alternatively, they can be read as the chair finally being powered on, with the protagonist screaming in pain as he's electrocuted.
Wakened by horrid scream
Freed from this frightening dream
Podcasts
- Within the Wires:
- Season 1 ends with "Cassette #10: Horopito," which medical prison staff member Hester will mail to a cottage, meant to be a safe house for friend and escaped patient Oleta. We have no way of knowing if Oleta ever receives it (though between Side A and Side B, we hear sounds of the ocean, suggesting that she does) or if she will wait there for Hester. We are unsure if Hester will be able to successfully wipe the Institute's records to facilitate her own escape, or if they will be able to track down Oleta again.
- The Patreon-only season "Black Box" ends with the pilot reunited with his daughter, and he's letting her decide whether they register her with the Society or strike out on their own. Her decision is unstated.
Professional Wrestling
- A match with the TNA World Title on the line was left unresolved by the end of the airing. Eddie Edwards and Bobby Lashley fought in a world title match that was the sub-main event at Total Nonstop Deletion aired on December 15, 2016. The American Wolf would pull off a major spot by throwing Lashley though a door out into the wilderness... and then it cuts to a commercial. The match's resolution would never be given out as the show would move on to the main event while Edwards and Lashley were still brawling in the woods, even getting a brief cameo fighting each other near the volcano while the Broken Hardys were fighting Decay. The pair are last seen still fighting, with Lashley fending off jobbers before Eddie would throw him deeper into the woods. While Eddie Edwards would show up the next week still the champion, it was left up to guesses as who was the true victor of the fight.
Theatre
- Anna Christie ends with a superficial Happy Ending, as Anna has agreed to marry Mat and her father Chris is finally OK with the wedding. But that resolution is promptly followed by anxiousness and melancholy, as the characters worry about the future.
- The Container ends with the truck stopping, and doesn't reveal why, whether the characters have been caught trying to enter England, if they've been betrayed and turned in by the driver, or if they've made it safely.
- The opera Così Fan Tutte, by composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, is about two men who try to seduce each other's fiancées while in disguise. At the end, after the deception is revealed, the four leads reconcile and decide to get married, but neither the libretto nor the score indicate which man ends up marrying which woman - which has left directors free to choose any pairing they want, or to leave it unresolved.
- Hamilton: In the filmed version of "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story", Eliza comes out to deliver her closing lines, the song draws to a close... and out of nowhere Eliza gives a sudden gasp. There have been multiple speculations on what this gasp means, including that it symbolizes Eliza's final breath (and with it, the end of the last person involved with the play's events) or that Eliza sees through the audience and realizes that their story lives on.
- John Proctor Is The Villain: The script deliberately leaves it ambiguous if Beth, a naive girl who was previously reluctant to believe Shelby's accusation that Mr. Smith had an affair with her, joins the others in their defiant dance against him at the end.
- Pilot Program is about a modern Mormon couple called to serve in the restoration of polygamy. The main character is the first wife, Abigail, and it ends without her coming to any firm decisions about her new life. She's not content and settled in the new polygamous marriage, but neither is she thinking of divorce. The author has commented that this is because it's not a play about the long-term outcomes of polygamy, it's about the start, and that any long-term conclusion would retroactively color the beginning. If things improve with time, then all's well that ends well and the initial hardship would be reframed as just growing pains. If it ends in divorce, then the whole thing was doomed from the start.
Melissa Leilani Larson: I feel like that it ends where it ends because answering those questions about where the marriage goes changes what the play is. And there's nothing wrong with that—it's just, what I wanted to do with this play is explore the possibility of it happening to start.
Web Animation
- The Camp Camp episode "Quarter Master Appreciation Day" has The Quarter Master reuniting and making up with his "Quarter Sister" in a very squicky way, before going into the mess hall that was coincidentally just set on fire. We then witness of sudden bright flash that leaves behind nothing but The Quarter Master... who's hook hand has switched to the side that his sister's was on and she's no where to be seen. When questioned on what happened to her, The Quarter Master cryptically says she might be dead or might be more alive than ever, before muttering a line that implies he might have murdered her and walking away with both the characters and the audience, unsure of what the heck just happened.
- Season 5 of DEATH BATTLE! actually contains the first instance of an ambiguous ending to a fight. "Raven vs Twilight Sparkle" ended with Raven claiming victory, using her Soul Self to slam into Twilight with enough force to form a pony-shaped Impact Silhouette. We never see Twilight's body afterwards, so it's uncertain whether or not she's truly dead.
- Reversal of the Heart ends with The Prince being engulfed by the Mother Dragon's flames, but when the flames die down, a baby dragon is in his place. It's in the spitting image of the one the prince killed at the beginning of the film, except with the prince's eye color. The baby dragon yawns before looking up at its "mother" and hunkering down in confusion. The Mother Dragon picks him up, only giving the others a brief glance and knocking away the Prince's helmet, before she flies away with the baby in toll. The Wizard and The Princess give each other a smile. Whether they pursue a relationship, and whether the baby dragon was a transformed Prince or the original brought back in exchange for the Prince's life, is left unanswered.
- Discussed in Terrible Writing Advice. J.P. Beaubien says that ambiguous ending requires careful preparation from the author and making sure that the story allows multiple interpretations to happen. That's why he recommends using ambiguous ending to either use it to cover up the inability to not come up with a definite ending, or use it when the time constraints are tight so the work could be finished in time.
Webcomics
- Alice Grove finished in a rapidly paced ending, with Alice casually murdering Pate in one of her rage states, Gavia and Ardent learning that their reality is a Matrix-like simulation, Sedna losing an arm, and the fact that humanity is about to have a intellectual and technological awakening to advance it back to its pre-war state. Despite that, in the course of three pages Gavia and Ardent are told they cannot return home, Sedna is given a new arm, and Alice decides to get in a ship and fly off into the unknown. Case closed. No explanation for the cause of the war, what Alice, Church or the rest of their kind did in the war, or what The Walker did to the moon with Gavia's nanotech. The result is a bitter fandom towards Jeph.
- Best Friends Forever was discontinued in Chapter 24, resulting in a Bittersweet Ending, and tons of questions unanswered, like: Are Vincent and Teddy really okay with being Just Friends or are there still unresolved issues? Will Vincent and Louis get together? Will John ever redeem himself in Teddy's eyes?
- Homestuck ends with a beautiful nine-minute hand-drawn animated movie that answers almost no questions and leaves a million plot threads hanging. Was Lord English defeated? Did he get destroyed by the black hole? What did the "weapon" actually do? Do the events that result in the kids' souls being trapped inside it happen sometime after the end of the game, or was that actually a different set of kids from a different timeline? If it is the same group of kids, are they ever freed from the juju? Hussie has hinted some of these questions might be answered later in an epilogue...only for said epilogue(s) to also end ambiguously.
- Inanimate Experiments: After the victims escape from Testtube, they talk about seeing a doctor to check the injuries they gained from her cruel experiments. As of if they get cured back to normal or not remains unknown.
Web Original
- Finding Hope ends with Nobody deciding on whether or not he should become the new town sheriff. Whether he agrees to that offer is left up to the reader's imaginations.
Web Videos
- The Cry of Mann: Tank Mann returns and solves the conflict almost instantly, which leads the callers to question in his subsequent faux-Q&A whether they did the right thing at all. Tank dodges every question posed to him, including those calling him out for not being there for his family, and the whole thing ends with a bright white light followed by several minutes of ocean noise.
- DON'T LOOK AWAY (2017): Who rang the doorbell near the end? Jim panicked when he remembered averting his eyes on the creature he's supposed to look at, fearing it's still somewhere nearby. Meanwhile, the father thinks the mother simply came home. The film ends by leaving this up to one's interpretation.
- Dropout:
- Defying this trope is the whole point of "Ambiguous Endings Resolved". The Wrestler ends with Randy possibly jumping to his death, but his doctor suddenly interrupts his match to tell him his heart is actually fine; Lost in Translation (2003) reveals that Bob Harris and Charlotte declared their love for each other during their hug at the end and discuss how to kill Charlotte's husband; No Country for Old Men ends with the deputy interrupting Sheriff Bell's solemn ending monologue to inform him that they caught Anton Chigurgh; The Graduate has Elaine and Ben realizing how inappropriate it was to run away at her wedding; and The Sopranos reveals what happens after the notorious No Ending in the series finale—Tony Soprano has been shot and killed by some rival mobsters.
- Zig-Zagged Trope by "Inception Ending Extended", which ended by leaving open the possibility that it was All Just a Dream. The credits go back and forth between the spinning top, the top stopping, the top spinning again, etc.
- Defying this trope is the whole point of "Ambiguous Endings Resolved
- Dan Olson of Folding Ideas discusses the concept in "Annihilation and Decoding Metaphor", and especially why it's used: to force the audience to approach the film metaphorically and thematically, where in response to lacking a definitive narrative conclusion, it asks the viewer to piece together what the film is "about". Dan admits that the video essay was prompted by his frustration from seeing reviewers miss the point of Annihilation (2018)'s own Ambiguous Ending by trying to "solve" it (namely, determining whether or not its protagonist and her love interest are clones formed by an eldritch force) when it was meant to be observed on a thematic level that ironically makes the literal answers to the conclusion much more obvious (it being a story about how people change in ways that are often bleak and unfair, but also beautiful, and it's a universal experience towards "being human" that must be lived with). Dan stresses that trying to avoid a metaphorical mindset against ambiguous endings is not approaching a work for what it is, but "writing fanfiction," approaching works as being "puzzles" that need to be "solved" in a display of incuriosity and willful ignorance over what a work is actually trying to say.
- The end of Winter of '83 is rather ambigious, even the text on the tapes admits they only have a loose idea of what happened. The last time claims they've been unable to find any evidence of the research program, and the institute denies even sending it leaving it unclear where they actually came from and what they were trying to do. The bacteria presumbely killed everybody but for most of the characters it isn't directly explained. They don't even really know what happened to the bacteria in the end, besides that apparently some amount of it survived.
Western Animation
- ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks: From the final scene of "Who Ghosts There" — Simon getting tapped out of nowhere while his brothers are still in bed, the 'Munks' stuff suddenly floating around the bedroom in an eerie blue glow, and a ghost appearing and flying out the window — either Simon forgot to deactivate the realistic special effects he invented to make the Seville house look haunted so no one would buy it...or their home has somehow become haunted for real.
- The Amazing World of Gumball has a lot of episodes that end with threats that do not get resolved on-screen. Due to Status Quo Is God, things are usually back to normal by the next episode. But the series finale "The Inquisition" ends with Rob falling into the void while a Dark Reprise of the theme song plays. Until we get the Big Damn Movie, we do not know what happens.
- Years later, due to issues with making the movie, we finally do know what happened from an actual episode. We see in The Rewrite the Awesome Store owner saved Rob who has since been working with him.
- The Animaniacs song "Hello Nurse" song brags about the nurse and all her spectacular achievements. At the end, Yakko and Wakko state that if what Wakko said in the song isn't true, then let "lightning strike us dead". Lightning strikes them afterwards, implying Wakko's boasting isn't accurate. However, it didn't kill them, so it could still be correct. At least one fact is confirmed. In Wakko's Wish, Hello Nurse reveals she has an IQ of 192 (not 157 as the song claims).
- Arthur: "Is There a Doctor in the House?" ends with Arthur sneezing and fearing that he's caught his parents' cold, but the episode ends before it's revealed if he did.
- Justified in the "Atalanta" animation from the Free to Be... You and Me TV special (and book), since a main theme of the film was to challenge gender stereotypes. Rather than the hero and heroine getting married at the end, as in the original legend, they instead merely spent the afternoon together. They then went off separately to pursue their own desires: namely, travelling the world. The story concludes that they may or may not be married eventually. But,
"...it is certain that they are living happily ever after."
- Last episode of Cybersix ends ambiguously. Cybersix was so close to the exit, did she make it? The Big Bad is dead but Jose is shown to have survived and the very last shot is of Lucas wondering the streets, looking up and seeing light in Adrian/Cybersix's window. Since the show was cancelled so we will likely never know what happened.
- The "Unknown Mystery Killer" episode of Celebrity Deathmatch ended with an intentional loose end. The killer - who had murdered Drew Barrymore, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jennifer Love Hewitt, having the gall to do it outside the Deathmatch ring - simply called Nick and Johnny one last time to taunt them, but was never identified, saying Johnny catchphrase ("Good fight, good night") for him in an evil-sounding voice right before the credits rolled. (Of course, this was likely intentional.)
- The twist ending of Will Vinton's Closed Mondays. Was the Drunken Man an ordinary person who was turned into a statue? Or, as it's heavily implied by his reaction to the plight of the Scrubbing Woman, was he originally a sculpture that managed to escape the gallery? And if he was a statue, was he trying to escape again as he stumbled for the door, or did he willingly go back to his plinth and become a statue again?
- Futurama: The episode "Murder on the Planet Express" has the main characters go on a Corporate Trust Exercise led by a business consultant Dan McMasters. As part of the trust exercise, they pick up a seemingly random hitchhiker that turns out to be a murderous shapeshifter that eats the characters one by one. At the end of the episode, Dan McMasters claims to Fry and Bender that the whole situation with the shapeshifter was the trust exercise and no one really died, but Fry and Bender don't believe him (since the shapeshifter claimed the same thing earlier to get the drop on them) and promptly murder him, only for it to be revealed that he was telling the truth. Fry and Bender swear each other to secrecy, but a large reward is offered for the identity of Dan McMasters' killer (and in the case that there were two killers, double the reward and total immunity if one of the killers turns in the other), which prompts Fry and Bender to eye both each other and the phone before the episode ends. Since this show rarely has actual continuity, it's never revealed if they ratted on each other or not.
- Little Princess:
- At the end of "I Don't Want a Cold", the Princess recovers from her cold and everyone tries to have the picnic again. However, when the adults all sneeze, the Princess immediately assumes they've caught her cold and cancels the picnic. It's left unclear whether the adults really have caught her cold.
- "I Don't Want Nits" ends with Puss and several of the adults scratching themselves. It's unclear whether the humans caught the Princess's lice and Puss caught Scruff's fleas, or if they're imagining an itch due to their already-established fear of the insects. At the end, it's rendered moot, since they get shampooed anyway.
- Pet Alien: "Uranus Awaits" ends with Tommy getting an A-grade and forgiving Dinko for lying to him, causing Dinko to regain his sanity and apologise for lying to Tommy. It then turns out that Tommy put Dinko into the same Lotus-Eater Machine he put Tommy in earlier, leaving it ambiguous just how much of the second half of the episode actually happened and how much only occurred in said machine.
- The South Park episode "Tweek x Craig". The titular pair end up Mistaken for Gay by the whole town due to some Yaoi Fangirls making fanart of them. They fake a break-up which ends up making the whole town sad, so at the end they pretend to get back together for the town's sake. However, there are possible implications in the episode (as well as future material and from Word of God) that they might actually have feelings for each other for real.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: The last scene of "Dunces and Dragons", combined with Mind Screw; did SpongeBob and Patrick dream up the whole episode after getting knocked out at the joust, or did they time travel for real and they somehow took Squidly to the present with them? The book adaptation edits this out so the former event happens.
- The season 4 finale of Star Trek: Lower Decks, "Old Friends, New Planets", ends with Tendi being sent back to her home world of Orion as per an agreement between her and her sister D'Erika. However, as she watches the Cerritos disappear as her ship goes to warp, she lets out a calming breath, psyches herself up, then turns around with a devious grin on her face. This makes viewers question everything about Tendi and make them wait until the start of next season.
- Teen Titans goes out on this note, with its final episode having both its main and side stories somewhat unresolved. But fans could care less about the B-plot concerning the mysterious, seemingly undefeatable monster. It's the question the A-plot raised of whether or not the school girl that Beast Boy has been talking to was Terra or not. Clues are sprinkled throughout the episode for either possibility, with additional clues for whether or not she's faking amnesia if she is actually Terra.
- In "Cyborg The Barbarian", a Freeze-Frame Bonus shows that Cyborg was able to fire one last shot before being whisked away. Whether or not he made the shot or if this was the reason the village defeated Krall is left up to the viewer.
- It was later addressed in Issue #51 of Teen Titans Go! (2003) comic, where the Titans encounter Geo-Force, Terra's older brother who's been searching for her whereabouts. Beast Boy takes him to the school, where he confirms that the girl is indeed Terra, with the ending also suggesting that Terra was faking her amnesia in order to live a normal life. Fans debate whether the comics should be seen as canon, however.