Now, there are all types of final ‘battles’ that one can do with an action-based story. A grand chase to freedom, armies crashing, slaying of a great beast, defeat without killing the enemy, and many others. I could spend the entire day creating various scenarios. Instead, I’m going to list a few components that can help focus a final battle:
- Villain Speech– It’s written into nearly every villain contract that a gloating speech must be made at least once. Typically, when the hero is captured or on the ropes, which tends to happen in a final battle. It could be the starting point or the mid point of the event. If you want to be unique, have it at the end when their head is no longer attached to their body. (Note: It only works with villains who can talk after a beheading.) This helps focus a character’s mentality, reasons, and stall for a page or two to help figure out what you’re going do. Besides, your characters are civilized and simply slamming into each other without talking is so barbaric.
- Hero Speech– This isn’t in the contract, but your heroes might have the urge to talk before battling. Instead of gloating, this is in the form of noble declarations and/or accusations. Many times it’s reminding the villain that he’s bad, which is either denied or gets a ‘No Shit, Sherlock’ comment. One area where such a speech helps is when the hero is on the ropes and feels like he/she/it is about to lose. Without going for too long or making it internal, the hero can use it as a personal rally for a second wind.
- Landscapers’ Nightmare– If action is necessary for the confrontation then you’re going to need some property damage. Look at any superhero movie and realize that you can’t beat a villain without messing up several buildings or famous monuments. Trees uprooted and craters left by magic, sword slashes in the priceless tapestries, broken windows, and busted furniture are par for the course. After all, this is a life and death struggle where only one person will come out alive. The destruction helps showcase the level of importance and release of limits.
- Innocent Bystanders for Various Reasons– Nobody ever evacuates before a disaster in some books and movies. The most obvious reason is because the common folk are idiots in all stories. Still, they make good distractions and human shields. Heroes will dive into attacks to save them and villains will hold them up to put the hero in a difficult position. If anything you need witnesses for the big battle. Not that these characters have names or will talk to the reader. Maybe they act as surrogates for the reader or explain how news of the events carry.
- Death Isn’t Always the End– Most final battles end with one of the main characters, but this isn’t always necessary. Sure, you confirm that the loser isn’t going to return and the winner’s agenda carries on. Yet, it can be more powerful to have a hero or villain break at the end instead of die. It’s more of a strike against what they stood for if they simply give up. On the other hand, death really drives home the fact that the story is over.
- Battle Damage!– You see in a lot of movies, shows, and read in books about final battles where the action is high and the personal damage is low. Did that normal guy really just step out a fallen building with nothing more than a splinter? Fireball to the face equals an annoying sunburn? In general, a great final battle should have the winner nearly collapsing at the end. Broken bones, cuts, burns, missing parts, and whatever else you can put in without killing the character. People might complain that you go too far, but remember that a life/death fight can create a powerful adrenaline rush. It isn’t a cure all, but it can explain an injured character continuing to fight.
Legends of Windemere 
Landscapers’ Nightmare, lol. I like this list. ^_^
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It’s amazing how many final battles seem to magically miss all buildings.
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Loved the list. I too liked the descriptors. “Landscapers’ Nightmare”. . . The best.
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Thanks. Those poor lampposts always get it.
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:-0
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This is a great list, Charles. I’m in this boat right now: trying to decide how much my villain will say at the end. I keep hearing Lucius’s speech from The Incredibles in my head: “He starts monologuing! He starts like, this prepared speech about how *feeble* I am compared to him, how *inevitable* my defeat is, how *the world* *will soon* *be his*, yadda yadda yadda.”
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I’m not at that point yet, but part of me wants to have the villain hit in the middle of the speech. Sadly, it doesn’t work for the type of heroes I have. Maybe I can do it so that while he’s making a speech the heroes are making a plan or preparing a big spell.
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Landscapers nightmare – sometimes I have trouble watching action films coz I’m wondering who’s going to clean up the mess and how much will it cost! Good post.
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I’ve thought, but then I think ‘job creation’. Imagine the call for manual labor to help clean up. 🙂
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Indeed. I wonder if, in superhero worlds, there’s a special crew to do it, like crime scene cleaners.
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Marvel Comics actually answered that with Damage Control. It was a construction company that specialized in repairing areas after superhuman battles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damage_Control_%28comics%29
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That’s awesome. I wonder if they’ll pop up in Agents of SHIELD.
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Hard to tell. I haven’t seen the show, but I keep hearing how they’re not really using the Marvel Universe to its advantage.
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I’m not that familiar with the Marvel Universe, but that’s something I’ve heard too. I like the programme but it has been uneven. Still the first series of many a programme, has been tricky to get into so I’m going to persevere.
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That’s all one can do. I’ll admit to haven’t watched any of it due to not being very interested. I read the comics, so I kind of want that in there.
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Awesome list. Definitely gives me some stuff to think about with the various fights in my stories.
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Good to hear. 🙂
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I think there should be an author speech. “Eh…hem…sorry for the typos and the fact that I killed your favourite character…”
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Then the author is slain by the characters. Such is life.
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Poor George.
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I wonder if he has nightmares about his characters coming to life and seeking revenge.
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This is fun! But, on the topic of killing the villain… Years ago, I read an interview with Anne McCaffrey about mistakes she made when she wrote the first few Pern books. She had no plan to write a series, so she killed her bad guy, Fax, in the first half of Dragonflight. Afterward, when the thing took off, she had to introduce a different villain, Meron, who was dislikable but didn’t pack the same punch as Fax.
So, sometimes, we don’t want to be too hasty in killing off our villains, even when it’s the big show-down.
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Maybe I’ll write a post about how to finish off villains besides killing. The truth is that a final battle of a series tends to end in a villain’s death. It’s the cleanest ending with the most amount of closure for readers.
That being said, it isn’t something to be jumped into blindly. An author has to be sure the series is over or a new bad guy is in the wings if the villain is to be killed. By taking a non-death ending, an author does leave a sequel as a possibility. A downside to that is you don’t have as tight a closure and people may scream for another story when you don’t have any.
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#6 is the hardest one for me. It’s so easy to have too much or too little when it comes to injuries and how they affect people. I think part of the problem of the latter was not having personal experience.
I tend to resort to external feedback (ie: my fiancé) all the time. His years of motocross has had him see, and experience, some brutal injuries.
On #3, I’ve found I prefer decimating giant stone structures, especially with magic or a giant serpent… I wonder if there’s a support group for that.
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I don’t have much experience with #6, so I take my time to think about the injury. Even Internet research can help. Though, I’ve known people who have had an injury and kept moving without a problem. A character’s pain threshold and adrenaline levels factor in for me.
There was a support group for #3, but they could never find a giant stone structure to meet in. At least not one that lasted more than a few minutes.
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excellent! really enjoyed this, Charles.
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Thanks. 🙂
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This is awesome!! I will definitely be keeping this around for future writing 😀
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Glad to be of future help. 🙂
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Future help and present entertainment!!
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Both goals I strive for. Thanks.
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