What eventual outcomes are dictated by the initial mass of a star?

White dwarf, neutron star, or black hole

The initial mass of a star is identified as arguably its single most defining characteristic, as it dictates nearly every subsequent stage of its life, evolution, temperature, and eventual demise. After a star exhausts its nuclear fuel and can no longer support itself against gravitational collapse, its final state is entirely contingent upon how much mass it retained. Stars below a certain mass threshold will end their lives as white dwarfs, which are supported by electron degeneracy pressure. Stars exceeding that limit but below a higher threshold will undergo a more violent collapse, resulting in a neutron star, supported by neutron degeneracy pressure. The most massive stars, upon collapsing, exceed even the neutron degeneracy limit, leading inevitably to the formation of a black hole, an endpoint characterized by gravity so intense that nothing, not even light, can escape.