A story is good, but the Ending rocked my socks!

There are times while venturing through a good story where I fall head over heels for the ending. That's right, the ending. The rest of the story can me whatever it wants to be, but my heart stops for the final moments, the conclusion, the resolution. And I will summarize two endings for which I easily melt, however, I will not name these stories by title.

I don't want anyone mad because I ruined anything. If you happen to discover the titles as you read, I'm sorry. I tried my best not to name anything directly. My apologies if I ruined a good story for you.

Ending #1:

Our Hero, through circumstances within his control, uses his brains and resources to eventually take control of the world. This is bad, because he becomes a tyrant and uses his Super Ability to get people on his side. In cahoots with him is His Friend, who gains a title almost as high as Our Hero's. You hear cryptic conversations between them occasionally. A red flag should be raised.

In what was supposed to be a final battle, Hero's Friend is caught in an explosion and the good guys leading the rebellion against Our Hero's tyrannical reign are captured. While they are being paraded about before their execution, a Symbol appears and assassinates Our Hero, thus sparking a street riot to free the good guys.

It turns out, and I think this is brilliant, that Our Hero and His Friend staged this assassination to unite the world. Before that, the world was split into separate beliefs involving the giant superpower government and what-not. In order to really bring peace between the different factions, they all had to be united under a common enemy. And Our Hero sacrificed himself to achieve that. Adding to the brilliance is the fact that Our Friend didn't really die, he becomes the Symbol that assassinates Our Hero!

I saw that, flipped, and watched it again because I loved it so much! Oh, the brilliance!

Ending #2:

Over the course of five years, Our Hero battled Stereotypical Villian so he can both save the world(s) and return to the life he had. He finally learns that now that the battle is over, he can't return to his previous life. But he's assured he will gain by going to this new life rather than lose. Our Hero states to his Mentor that it seems unfair to fight for something, and then never find out what would become of it. Mentor agrees that it's unfair.

Turn page, and we are greeted by the life Our Hero led as if he didn't spend five years crossing the universe. We see him on his death bed (or close to it), and Mentor comes in with a box of scrolls stating he has a story Our Hero has to read. Our Hero wrote those scrolls, documenting his adventure those five years.

I just sit and mull that over again and again. I love that ending too.

Do you like endings, Dear Reader? May I hear of them?