Finale

Finale (2019) is a young-adult fantasy novel by Stephanie Garber and the third and final novel in the Caraval series. It is set two months after the ending of the prior novel, Legendary. With the dangerous Fates now unleashed into the world from their enchanted prison in a deck of cards, series protagonists Scarlett and Tella Dragna must deal with the aftermath. Tella is caught between her lingering feelings for Legend, who has officially claimed his role as one of the Fates, and her unresolved relationship with Jacks, the Prince of Hearts. Meanwhile, Scarlett seeks to determine which of her two suitors, Julian or Nicolas, is truly worthy of her love. When the Fates begin taking control over the empire, the line between fantasy and reality blurs more than ever before.

This guide is based on the 2019 hardcover edition published by Flatiron Books.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death by suicide, self-harm, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and death.

Plot Summary

Years before Finale, Paloma watches her daughters, Tella and Scarlett, bicker in the midst of playing. She intervenes, telling them that true power lies in love, especially the love between sisters.

In the present, Legend repeatedly visits Tella in her dreams, asking if she wants her prize for winning Caraval. She always refuses, determined not to yield to her attraction to him. After two months, she has a nightmare in which the dreamscape collapses, and the recurring dreams of Legend stop. Breaking her own rules, she seeks Legend out, only to witness him with Esmeralda, the witch whose magic originally granted him his abilities. Legend coldly absorbs Esmeralda’s magic to combat the rising power of the Fates, and this moment shatters Tella’s perception that he is ultimately capable of good. When she returns home, Tella finds that her mother, Paloma (whose real name is Paradise the Lost), has awakened from her magical sleep. However, Paloma soon leaves, claiming that she needs to protect her daughters. Tella follows Paloma, who confronts the Fate Gavriel, the Fallen Star—an encounter that ends with Paloma’s death. Although Tella tries to intervene in the struggle between Gavriel and Paloma, Jacks stops her in order to keep her safe.

Meanwhile, Scarlett is caught between her lover, Julian, and her former fiancé, Nicolas, as the two men compete for her affection and her hand in marriage. Scarlett and Julian encounter a family cursed by the Fate known as the Poisoner. In order to break the curse, Scarlett and Julian admit to the lies they told each other about their relationship. When the curse is broken, a young girl from the family gives Scarlett the Reverie Key, which can open any lock and lead her to anyone she imagines.

Tella, still reeling from Paloma’s death, turns to Jacks, who takes away her pain and grief through a blood magic ritual. After waking in Jacks’s arms the next morning, Tella returns home, only to discover that she has been evicted and Scarlett is now missing. Soon, Tella is brought to the palace under Legend’s orders. There, she reunites with him, Julian, and Scarlett. Together, the sisters grieve Paloma’s death and plan their next move against the Fates.

When Legend is evasive about the nature of Gavriel’s weakness, Tella decides to find the truth for herself. She returns to Jacks’s gambling parlor and learns that love renders immortals mortal; Jacks advises her to look for more information at the Vanished Market.

Later, Legend invites Tella to a gala called the Midnight Maze, where he offers her immortality. Knowing now that he will never love her because doing so would rob him of immortality, Tella rejects his offer. Suddenly, two of the more powerful Fates attack. Legend forces Tella out of the maze, which collapses. Tella assumes that Legend has been killed.

Knowing that her heart only belongs to Julian, Scarlett goes to Nicolas to break their engagement. On the way, she is abducted by Gavriel, who also murdered Nicolas. She awakens in the Menagerie, where Gavriel reveals himself as her birth father. He tells her that he has instructed the Fates to cause chaos so that he can intervene in the guise of a rescuer and take the throne himself. He also intends to train Scarlett to unlock her full power to change others’ emotions, transforming her into a Fate. Once he leaves her alone, Scarlett escapes using the Reverie Key. She reunites with Julian and Tella and tells them what happened. They plan to exploit her connection to Gavriel, so Scarlett voluntarily returns to captivity.

While Scarlett returns to the Menagerie, Tella enters the Vanished Market to find Gavriel’s secret weakness. She bargains her future daughter’s weakness in exchange for the information. However, she only learns that Gavriel once became human through love, and she believes that this information is unusable given Paloma’s death.

Once Tella returns to the city, Legend reappears and the group forms a new plan. Tella and Legend retrieve the magical book, Ruscica, from the Immortal Library; the book reveals everything about a person but requires a sample of that person’s blood. Scarlett tries to obtain a sample of Gavriel’s blood, but her attempt is thwarted. Gavriel forces her to demonstrate her powers on a captured Esmeralda. When Scarlett fails, he kills the witch.

Tella discovers from the Ruscica that the blood ritual she performed with Jacks bound her to him in an immortal marriage. After confronting him and severing their bond, she realizes that true love requires sacrifice and selflessness. She rushes to Legend, willing to become immortal and be with him forever. However, Legend rejects her, convinced that she deserves someone capable of reciprocating her feelings.

Meanwhile, Gavriel crowns himself and publicly declares Scarlett his heir. During the party for the coronation, a disguised Julian accidentally reveals himself. Gavriel forces Scarlett into a test of loyalty and orders her to alter Julian’s love into hatred. When she refuses, Gavriel tortures Julian. Using the Reverie Key, Scarlett narrowly escapes with Julian to safety. (Legend stays behind to help them escape and is imprisoned instead.)

Desperate to stop her father for good, Scarlett uses her uncanny resemblance to her mother to pretend to be a version of Paloma from the past, brought into the present through the Assassin’s magic. She confronts Gavriel in disguise and attempts to awaken his lost humanity. Her plan only fully works when Tella tries to intervene. Scarlett takes the brunt of Gavriel’s attack. When he feels remorse for everything that he has done and becomes mortal, Tella finally kills him.

In the aftermath, Scarlett is crowned Empress and accepts Julian’s proposal. Meanwhile, Tella and Legend finally admit their love for each other, and he willingly chooses mortality to be with her.