GTA 5: The Three Endings and Their Implications for the Characters and the World

By Rahul Rajput On Aug 24, 2023

The single-player campaign of Grand Theft Auto 5 may be simple, but the game’s three endings, which give players full power over how the story ends, are anything but. When the main character steps into the shoes of Franklin Clinton, he has to make a hard choice out of three very different ones: kill Michael De Santa, kill Trevor Philips, or work with both of them.

The real ending of GTA 5 is the best in the series, but there is no right or wrong answer. With a little more information, one can feel sure about their chosen result and what it means for the main characters.

Before the end of GTA 5, the main characters steal $200 million from the Union Depository Bank in “The Big Score.” Franklin goes home to calm down after the heist. Steve Haines and Devin Weston, two bad guys, find him there and tell him to kill one of his friends.

Haines wants Trevor to die because he can’t count on him, which makes him a risk. Weston tries to kill Michael’s family as payback for his lawyer’s death, but it doesn’t work, so he asks Franklin to finish the job. Franklin’s third hidden choice is to avoid the bad guys and get Michael and Trevor to help him get rid of Haines, Weston, and other enemies.

GTA 5: Ending A (“Kill Trevor”) Explanation

If Trevor’s good side is rejected in GTA 5 and Haines’ request is instead carried out, Franklin sets up a meeting between Trevor and Trevor. They start talking about recent events, and Franklin says that Trevor’s wildness will kill him and Michael.

He may be trying to explain why he chose to do what Haines asked. He then takes out a gun and points it at Trevor, but Trevor gets away in his truck. During the chase, Michael comes to help and drives Trevor’s truck into an oil tank.

Trevor gets hurt and falls into the oil pool. He yells at Franklin and Michael for cheating on him. Trevor gets burned to death when either Franklin or Michael shoots at him, setting the oil on fire.

Michael rants about Trevor’s flaws, and then he and Franklin agree that “Surviving is winning, […] whatever it takes.” The money they made from the GTA 5 Union Depository heist is then split between them.

GTA 5: Ending B (“Kill Michael”) Explanation

If you choose to kill Michael at the end of GTA 5, things start out the same way. Franklin sets up a meeting between Michael and himself. Michael just got off the phone with his wife, and they were rejoicing over the fact that he now has money and his family back.

Franklin doesn’t wait long to ruin the mood by telling Michael why he’s about to do what he’s about to do to Michael. He says, “We both know this […] ain’t over,” which means that if they don’t make Haines and Weston happy, they won’t be able to get away with the heist.

Michael runs away to the Palmer-Taylor Power Station because he knows what’s going to happen. Franklin follows him there.

Franklin says that Michael used him and that he could be used again any day because “people don’t change.” Michael, who is known for having some of the best lines in GTA 5, says, “You did!” as a final response.

You! “Two-bit gangster turned three-bit” means that Franklin has gone from being a simple thug to a full-fledged criminal who plans and betrays others.

Then, Franklin pushes Michael off the side of a tower, and Michael has to decide whether to let him fall or try to save him. But it’s just a fake appearance of choice. Even if the choice to save Michael is picked, he will headbutt Franklin in self-defense, causing Franklin to drop Michael and kill him.

Franklin calls Lamar Davis and leaves, no matter how he feels about the situation. Both Trevor’s family and Michael’s family avoid Franklin because they think he killed Michael. Since Michael still has family around (unlike Trevor), his share of the Union Depository heist is still taken out instead of being split between Franklin and Trevor.

GTA 5: Ending C (“Deathwish”) Explanation

If Trevor or Michael aren’t betrayed at the end of Grand Theft Auto 5, Franklin will talk to heist leader Lester Crest instead. He comes up with a plan to bring Haines’ FIB officers and Weston’s Merryweather mercenaries to the metal foundry.

The main characters will lie in wait for an attack while pretending to melt down the stolen gold. After outsmarting and killing the soldiers, the team breaks up to finish up loose ends. Trevor kills Haines, Michael kills Stretch, an old enemy of Franklin’s, and Franklin kills Triad leader Wei Cheng, who had a fight with Trevor and Michael earlier in the game.

Once this is done, Trevor puts Weston in the trunk of his own car and drives it to a cliff in the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness. The three of them push his car off the edge of the cliff, and they split the money they stole from him.

Most people agree that this is the real ending of GTA 5 since it fits best with how the three main characters changed over the course of the game.