Who or what seems to save the narrator at the end of "The Pit and Pendulum"?

Your question is not
actually as straightforward as it would first appear, because the richly symbolic nature of this
tale opens its rather abrupt ending to a number of different interpretations. Ostensibly, the
ending occurs when the French army invades Toledo and the narrator is saved from tumbling into
the deadly pit at the very last moment by General Lasalle, who catches him just as he is about
to fall. Note how the final paragraph of this incredible story describes this
incident:

There was a discordant hum of human voices!
There was a loud blast as of many trumpets! There was a harsh grating as of a thousand thunders!
The fiery walls rushed back! An outstretched arm caught my own as I fell, fainting, into the
abyss. It was that of General Lasalle. The French army had entered Toledo. The Inquisition was
in the hands of its enemies.

However, if we examine theof
this final paragraph carefully, it is clear that Poe could be suggesting the narrator's fall
into the interestingly-named "abyss" represents man's fall into hell and therefore,
that General Lasalle could symbolically represent Jesus Christ and his act of salvation for
mankind. This is suggested by the reference to the sound of trumpets, which is richly symbolic
of the end times as expressed in the Book of Revelation in the Bible.