The man tried to keep a story spinning even after his death, but the story just wouldn't move along.
Frustrated, the man lost his patience and called a duck into the story.
The little duck tried her best for the prince. She transcended her standing in the world and came to love the prince.
However, she was only a duck. She was fated to turn into a speck of light and vanish.
Yes...that was the tear-jerking ending the story had decided on...
Babies Ever After: After he turned back into a normal cat, Mr. Cat found himself a mate, and they had kittens together.
Badass Bystander: When the leader of the book men comes to finish off Fakir, Autor fights him off.
Bittersweet Ending: Drosselmeyer's plan for a great tragedy has been foiled, the Raven has been defeated, the Prince has been fully restored and Rue has been saved. However, Duck is still back to being a duck, and Rue and Mytho need to go back to his kingdom inside the story and will probably never see Fakir or Duck again. Regardless, Duck and Fakir live peaceful lives together, the latter becoming a writer of hopeful stories.
Dance of Despair: While held prisoner by the Raven, Rue conveys her feelings of hopelessness by dancing the Dying Swan. She thinks to herself that she will simply keep dancing until she dies away.
Freeze-Frame Bonus: Sharp-eyed viewers may notice Uzuradisappear when Siegfried and Rue leave in their chariot.
Grand Finale: As the title indicates, this is the last episode and the last act of the story, which Drosselmeyer intends to finish in a "magnificent tragedy."
Screw Destiny: Fakir rewriting Duck's part in the story seems to be a testament that Fate is not set in stone, in three ways. For one, Fakir accidentally wrote that Duck was supposed to dance among the raven dancers until she died, but he rewrote Duck to become an embodiment of hope, magically turns everyone back from ravens and survive. Second, Fakir was originally supposed to die as an incarnate of the Knight who was bisected by the Raven. Instead, he becomes the writer who completes Mytho and the Raven's unfinished story. Lastly, Drosselmeyer intended the story to end in a big tragedy, only to be thoroughly disappointed when it ends with everybody getting their happy ending instead.
Say My Name: The Prince calls Rue's name as he cuts a path down to the depths where she is.
Spanner in the Works: The narrator's final lines of the series is framed as this. Drosselmeyer brought Duck into his machinations in hopes she would move along the "story" and lead it to its tragic conclusion. Ironically, it was because of Duck that kicked off the domino effect where everyone worked together to give the story a happy ending.
Surprisingly Happy Ending: Invoked. The entirety of the story was intended by Drosselmeyer to be a tragedy, but thanks to our collective heroes' intervention, everything actually turns out all right. Duck doesn't die and in fact cleanses the town of the Raven's curse, Rue and Prince Seigfried live happily ever after as a loving couple, and Fakir gets to live a peaceful life as a story teller.
Tears of Joy: Rue starts sobbing when the Prince asks her to be his Princess, as she realizes she's finally getting the one thing she wanted above all else.
"Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Pike and Lillie are briefly confused by Duck's absence but just shrug it off, the people who were animals are changed back to normal, Autor snaps at Hermia and Lysander to be quiet, Mr. Cat has become a regular cat but has found the happy marriage he's always wanted, Mytho and Rue dance happily in his kingdom, Drosselmeyer laments on how his tragedy was ruined, wonders if he himself is a character in someone else's story and leaves with Uzura in search of a new one and Fakir writes a new story as Duck floats nearby.
Once upon a time, there was a man who died.
The final story he spun was going to be a brilliant tragedy.
However, the story had an unexpected happy ending,
and it was triggered by one duck that the man himself had called into the tale.
