I think House DID survive. House has had many hallucinations throughout the series, yes, but these are understandable - he was on Vicodin. Why would Wilson hallucinate? Also, whenever we've had hallucinations in the series before, they've eventually been revealed to be hallucinations, but this wasn't revealed to be a hallucination, so I don't think it was one. Of course, I suppose the counter-argument for this is that it wasn't revealed because the writers just wanted to leave it open to interpretation, but even this doesn't make it a hallucination; it just makes hallucination a possibility.

I firmly believe House is dead and Wilson hallucinates him. In the show, House starts hallucinating after trauma. He hallucinates people he can't let go of. House and Wilson had an incredibly strong bond, and Wilson losing him is a trauma. I personally like the symmetry of Wilson then hallucinating House after his death. It makes sense to me in terms of their enmeshed relationship.

I also don't think House was at all capable of escaping the fire, given the state he was in. I think the House survival story is too typically House to be real (if that makes any sense) and seems to me to be more like something Wilson would really hope to be real, rather than something House could actually pull off.

I think every House fan should 100% take want they want from the ending. I have no problem with people thinking House is still alive, because I think/hope the writers created that ending so that all fans could choose the ending that they think fits best for the series.

I see your point... I actually can't really think of any solid counter-argument. xD I still believe House is alive though... just because I want to. :P The series is traumatic enough for me with Kutner and Wilson dying, so if it's open-ended I refuse to accept an additional death, lol.

So, as I can't form a solid counter-argument, I'll settle for a shaky one instead. XP House has been known to hallucinate after trauma, but I don't think it's solely because of the trauma - he's always popping Vicodin and look at how high it made Foreman and Taub (I loved that episode XD). Yes, House has probably built up a resistance to it, but I think when he goes through trauma, his resistance breaks down. Or something. We can infer from his leg pain that his mental state has a significant impact on his physical health. Wilson, on the other hand, is not someone I would expect to hallucinate just because he wants to believe something, or at least not without drugs. He isn't the sort to lie to himself, or shy away from the truth rather than face it head on (at least not in the long run) - for example, he always told his wives when he'd cheated on them. Besides, he never hallucinated Amber. As for House not being able to get out in the state he was in, well, House M.D. isn't the most realistic series in the world; it's a show that likes to push the boundaries of what can happen, what can be done. I hope the writers never confirm the ending either way, because speculating over it is fun :D

"Wilson, on the other hand, is not someone I would expect to hallucinate just because he wants to believe something..."
- This is why it makes sense to me that he would hallucinate House. I wouldn't see it as lying to himself, or avoiding the truth, but rather as a coping mechanism in order to face what was left of his life alone. He didn't have long left himself, and facing that time without the one person he always turned would be quite traumatic. I guess he is problem is that he knows he has a little time left and one way to face that problem would be to embrace a House-like spirit towards life by jumping on that motorcycle! I don't see Wilson 're-creating' House in that way as avoiding a problem, but rather as using House as a way to embrace what is left of his life.

"Besides, he never hallucinated Amber."
- No, but Wilson and Amber were not enmeshed in the way House and Wilson are. Wilson loved Amber, no doubt! So I'm not saying Wilson loved House more, but House and Wilson's relationship was deeply enmeshed. They were intertwined very intricately, which is why both of them always went back to the other despite all the crap they put each other through (well, it was mainly House doing that I guess...!). So that is quite different to the romantic love that Wilson had for Amber. That's how I see it anyway!

No he faked his death to make a new life :)