Edward Bloom dies at the hospital but his legacy is perpetuated by his son, Will. It must be understood that Edward was always composing stories to reflect his own frustrations on a boring and sad lifestyle, constantly traveling far from his wife, represented by the woman in the lake, and the fish itself, who is symbolically talking, Will. In Ed's death bed, Will realizes this from his father, so he starts narrating the way the story would have been ended by Edward. In a twist, Will later discovers that most of his father's stories indeed happened, but Edward was just making them bigger through imagination, leaving to the audience the feeling that Will finally understands final message his father wanted him to understand the whole time: The ultimate adventure a man can have in his whole life is his family.
