What happens in the ending of Fight Club?
Quick Answer
In the ending of Fight Club, the unnamed narrator (Edward Norton) discovers that Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) is his fractured alter ego, then shoots himself in the cheek to kill Tyler, but survives. He then triggers a massive explosion that destroys Tyler's headquarters, and is arrested for the subsequent terrorist attacks, sitting in a jail cell as a janitor cleans his toilet with a toothbrush.
Explanation
The ending of Fight Club reveals the film's central twist: Tyler Durden is not a separate person but the narrator's dissociative identity, born from his trauma and dissatisfaction with his white-collar existence. After joining Tyler's underground fight club and later its more destructive offshoot, Project Mayhem, the narrator realizes Tyler has been manipulating him from the beginning. In a final confrontation, the narrator shoots Tyler in the face, symbolically killing his alter ego, and survives the wound. He then returns to Tyler's dilapidated house, rigged with explosives, and detonates it, destroying the headquarters of Project Mayhem. The film concludes with the narrator in a courthouse jail cell, awaiting trial for the terrorist attacks, as a janitor scrubs the toilet with a toothbrush, underscoring his complete fall from power and status.