The Top 10 Best Closing Lines in Fantasy
The Top 10 Best Closing Lines in Fantasy
Sure, everyone is concerned about first impressions…but what about last ones? The last line of a book is the final thought a work leaves us with, and often provides even more clues about an author’s themes or a story’s impact. Here are just a few of the closing lines that impressed us.
Have a favorite closing line that you don’t see here? Let us know in the comments. And warning—some spoilers may be ahead!
1. The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien
“At last they rode over the downs and took the East Road, and then Merry and Pippin rode on to Buckland; and already they were singing again as they went. But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. And he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire within; and the evening meal was ready, and he was expected. And Rose drew him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap.
“He drew a deep breath. ‘Well, I’m back,’ he said.”
2. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
“It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die.”
3. Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
“He’d drink to the whole sorry lot of them, but mostly to the poor fools who didn’t know what trouble was coming.”
4. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
“Already the ocean is washing around the Unconsecrated on the beach, pulling them back into the water, reclaiming them. For a while I stand and watch, until the beach is clear and the man takes my hand and leads me to the lighthouse.”
5. A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan
“The wind blew southward, through knotted forests, over shimmering plains and toward lands unexplored. This wind, it was not the ending. There are no endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time.
But it was an ending.”
6. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
“As Daenerys Targaryen rose to her feet, her black hissed, pale smoke venting from its mouth and nostrils. The other two pulled away from her breasts and added their voices to the call, translucent wings unfolding and stirring the air, and for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.”
7. The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor
“The old African man took the bones, blood, and quivering flesh of Phoenix’s book, digested its marrow and defecated a tale of his own. Then he and his oracle of a wife spread this shit far and wide. And their Great Book deformed the lives of many until the one named Onyesonwu came and changed it again. But that is another story.”
8. The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
“Now I had only to trust in myself.”
“Lost in emotion, neither noticed the glassy eye of a twenty year-old camera at the back of the chambers, its strap looped around the neck of Takeshi’s crimson armor. A faint, muffled click rose from the shutter, too quiet for them to hear and useless for the camera’s lack of film. It captured the scene nonetheless, the images hurtling across time and space, reaching into and across the Boundary where a self-congratulatory sniff and a wide, teary eyed smile awaited them.”
10. One Good Knight 
“Where do you think they’ll honeymoon?” Andie asked Peri as the two dragons flew off together.
“Hmm,” Periapt said, and raised an eyebrow. “Well, no matter what, I know one thing it will be.”
“Which is?” Andie asked him, as he put his arm around her waist and held her close.
He laughed. “Someplace—fireproof!”
Written By Stephanie Bucklin
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