1899 Ending Explained

Ok, so 1899 is now out, and the new Netflix series has a lot to unpack from its ending. Throughout this video, I want to breakdown the series, go over all the hidden details in it, and also go over what happens in the series final few scenes.

What I love about the series is that it starts to fall into you thinking that you’ve figured out the ending of it but then in the last couple of minutes it completely pulls the rug out from under your feet. You’re probably thinking what the hell is going on and in this video I aim to explain the ending whilst also giving my theories for what could happen next time.

In the end it’s revealed that Maura is infact in the year 2099 and on a spaceship known as the prometheus….no not that one…forget about that. However, the final scene actually shares some similarities to the voyages that are often depicted in sci-fi movies.

In order to make long journeys, passengers are often put to sleep in stasis, and this show makes it appear that simulations are fed to them in order to keep their minds occupied whilst they’re down for the long nap. Maura awakens from this and finds herself onboard a ship, which we know is overseen by her brother Ciaran.

1899: What Led To The Ending?

Now, before we get to the ending, I feel like we have to talk about the major events that led up to it. This first section of the video will be going over the influences in the show, the triangles that appear throughout and also the details that lead towards the end.

In the series, we join the passengers of the Kerberos as they head out on a voyage all the way to New York. The ending twist is that they’re probably doing the same thing, but rather than heading out to America, they’re heading out to a new planet.

Either way, they all have their own reasons for starting a new life, with most of the characters either running from something or receiving letters from their loved ones that beckon them out there. This is most notably seen in Maura, who is apparently carrying a letter from her missing brother. However, he is in fact probably calling her out to her new home.

Now sticking with the initial simulation, we watch as they come across Kerberos’ sister ship, the Prometheus, which is almost completely abandoned.

This was the ship that Maura’s brother was apparently on when he vanished, and we see how the other passengers and crew have a connection to it.

The show draws a lot of inspiration from real life, and this is very much a vessel that’s in the same vein as the Mary Celeste.

This ship was found abandoned in 1872 with no sign of what had happened to the crew or why they’d left it. To this day it stands as one of the biggest unsolved mysteries and we still don’t really have a concrete answer as to what happened to the crew. Ideas of mysteriously abandoned vessels are something that have laced horror and in the film Event Horizon we watch as that too is discovered with it’s crew completely missing.

Similar to those aboard the Kerberos the characters in that film start to have strange visions and it adds an extra dimension of horror to the proceedings.

Lastly, when watching this show, I couldn’t help but also think of the 2009 film Triangle. I don’t wanna spoil what happens in it but it involves people out at sea discovering an abandoned ship and then getting stuck in a time loop. I definitely recommend that you check it out, as it’s one of the most well-thought-out time travel movies that I’ve ever seen.

Now, triangles are also laced throughout the show, and I think we’d be remissed if we didn’t talk about the Bermuda Triangle and how this too influenced the series.

In case you don’t know, the area known as the Devil’s Triangle is infamous for the number of aircraft and ships that have disappeared whilst navigating through it.

There have been a number of supernatural explanations for this, ranging from giant squids to aliens to people not liking the video and being cursed because of it.

All these aspects came to mind when watching 1899 as those on the Kerberos tried to get to the bottom of what was going on.

Now incase you don’t know Kerberos is actually a technical term that also has links to Greek Mythology. The word originates from Cerberus, who guarded the underworld, and this idea of a figure being the thing that’s put in place between two worlds is how it’s been adapted in the modern day.

When it comes to computers a Kerberos is a computer security protocal that authenticates requests between a trusted network and an untrusted one. For example, the signal between your computer and the internet has to pass through a Kerberos first. The show, of course, also has doorways laced throughout it, with them being locked and unlocked at several points. We have the one connected the ship to the other side, the doorways that the little beetle unlocks, the gateway between the first and second class and so on and so forth. When the boy is cast overboard, he of course comes back through a doorway in a cabinet, which is mirrored by the doorway in the cabinet on the prometheus in the scene that we first meet him.

There’s very much this idea that everything has an opposite or other side to it, which is embedded in the show’s DNA.

The series opens with Maura talking about the human brain, which itself is divided into two sections, and her visions of an asylum hint that something else is going on here. The theme for the series is also a cover of White Rabbit by Jefferson Aeroplane. This is based on Alice in Wonderland, and that, of course, was also about tumbling down the rabbit hole in order to discover a new world and an altered perception.

The name Prometheus also has a double meaning to it, being named after the titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to the mortals. Typically, the usage of the name is meant to mark humanity gaining new knowledge or something that vastly alters them. This is definitely seen on the ship, which brings with it someone who drastically alters the perspective of those onboard.

We very much get the feeling, though, that someone else is working behind the scenes to control the events on the ship, and there is the constant feeling that this has all played out before.

Now, Dark constantly has the triquetra popping up as a symbol throughout it, and 1899 has triangles with lines through them.

This symbol actually has roots in witchcraft, and it’s used as an icon to demonstrate an earth element.

We learn that this triangle belonged to the company that refurbished the Kerberos but it’s something that constantly appears throughout.

In episode one, we see it on the back of the letters that the passengers receive and also on the earrings that Clemence wears.

Sorry, make it a bit more French, Clemance.

She also has a hair clip with this in it, and the triangle appears on the signs used for the cabin numbers.

The triangle appears on the back of the letters, and it’s also, of course, used on the floor panel that’s discovered in episode 2. Immediately after this, we see that there are triangles in the cupboard patter, and this is a reach right…warning you…but the priest, yeah…goatee is…it’s a triangle.

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Anyway the carpet has the symbol on it too which we see towards the end when the bug is set free.

We also have triangles appearing on the morse code message which is brought across to the device. A triangle is also on the pendant that Maura has at the end of episode 2.

Cut to episode 3 and we see one on the back of the Geishas dress and the arrows on the buttons which are of course triangles.

Episode 5 also gives us a good look at the ship’s crew, who all wear the triangle on their hats.

The boy also carries a triangular pyramid device which later appears in the wasteland outside the asylum.

This of course ties into its proper use in the show, with the line representing a split in it. This opens up a lid, and it’s where Maura places the key in order to escape.

Now we basically have a coup that forms on the ship after the captain decides to tow the Prometheus back instead of continuing to New York. If you’re a fan of DARK then you’ll likely recognise him as being a character I’ll just call the traveller incase you haven’t seen it.

Knowing what we know at the end, potentially he wants to turn the prometheus around because subconsciously he wants to go back home. I got a lot of Shutter Island vibes from this due to his family’s death, and maybe he was responsible for it.

He might want to return home to face up to his crimes; however, their deaths might be a metaphor for him leaving them on Earth. He might regret this which is why the prometheus is littered with reminers of them.

His families connection to the ship also mirrors Maura brother apparently being there.

During the exploration on the vessel, they discover the young boy Elliot, and we also see Daniel climb onboard.

Mysterious deaths start to happen, and the more superstitious people onboard come to the conclusion that Elliot is causing them. The head of this is Iben who’s family also becomes pivotal to the storyline. Her son Krester and daughter Tove get on the wrong side of a vicious farmer, who shot the former and sexually assaulted the latter. Tove killed him, and she’s now pregnant. Their younger sister is killed early on, and this spurs them on to take out the person that they blame.

They also want the ship to continue to New York and thus two sides are formed. Daniel warps them out of the ocean, and a passenger list for the Prometheus is found with both Maura’s and the Captain’s names on it.

Weird things begin to happen though, with Elliot coming back from being tossed overboard and a strange black wooden shape forming. Secret chambers beneath the floor are also unearthed, which lead into a vast wilderness with an asylum at the centre of it. We learn that this is extremely similar to where Maura grew up and that her father built it for her mother. After having her two children she started to forget things and slowly dementia took over.

Her father resented Maura and her brother because of this, and he built the asylum in order to study the human brain so that he could find a way to repair it. He also owns the company that refurbished the two ships and is basically the person behind it all.

At the heart of the location lies Maura’s dad, who seemingly oversees things using technology and TVs that definitely wouldn’t be available in 1899.

However, in the end, it turns out he’s a prisoner too, with his son being the person that’s really behind it all.

From what we hear of Maura’s childhood, she and her brother had a very traumatic one, and it’s possible that his experiments pushed the pair down this route. They may have developed the simulations as a way to help passengers flying into space handle the long journies. However, Ciaran might have a sick side to him, which is why he’s basically tormenting his sister and father.

Now Elliot refuses to talk for the most part, and instead he writes things down like they’re watching us.

I hope so too, mate. Our channels have a million subscribers but not a million views.

Weirdly there’s actually two things that are very similar to a certain recent movie that’s just come out with people jumping overboard and us also hearing the words sink ship.

Anyway after Elliot goes to the wilderness and the passengers fracture off we join Maura and Eyk as they head to her fathers. At the centre is the reveal that Daniel is actually Maura’s husband, which he teased ura carrying a photo of her. As the Captain goes to attack him, he transports him to a place where we see several other versions of the Prometheus. Barely anyone on the Kerberos is left and we see a storm begins to roll in.

This is actually a shut-down of the ship and the loop that it’s in with the world starting to collapse.

Now the final two episodes are where things really start falling together. Netflix actually sent out the first six for review, but held these ones back so that no secrets got out. Also, if you’re enjoying the video, we’d really appreciate the thumbs up, and make sure you subscribe for breakdowns that are in good shape.

Bleh.

Anyway, after a romantic scene with Daniel and Maura, we get into a very important discussion about what reality is. Maura’s mother developed her own perspection on the world due to her mental illness and Maura talks about how ones brain very much creates their own reality. This of course links in with the ship and how those travelling experience things differently than the true reality of them.

Reality doesn’t exist if one isn’t there to experience it, and thus, a person’s brain interprets the world around them and creates a construct in which we see the world.

Plato’s cave reality is brought up twice in the final episodes, and in case you don’t know, this is basically a thought experiment that determines how we very much define what reality is.

It states that if a group of people were tied up in a cave together, then they would assume the shadows on the wall and the sounds that echo about the cave are all that there is. They would be unaware that there is anything else, and this would become the norm that they would accept.

This would be a false reality, but it would be what they define as real due to these shadows and sounds being all that they know.

In the show, the ship at the end is very much the cave, with that determining what people think is happening when really they’re all bound together, experiencing the same thing, and thus believing that’s the truth. We know there are other people going through their own experiences on the prometheus with each section being divided up into cabins.

Now this room is an extremely important location as it’s also where Maura later discovers that she and Daniel are Elliott’s parents. This might be when he was conceived, which explains why it’s such a powerful memory for Daniel. She didn’t have access to this knowledge before because her mind was confined to the reality that was given to her, which was seen beneath the floorboards. This was of her childhood home which is why her father was a central figure that was also connected to it as well. This was the place that he experimented on her mother, but it’s also the place where she selfishly tried to prolong Elliot’s life.

I’m guessing that time works differently in the simulation, and that keeping him there could mean he lives for decades in the real world. It’s sort of an inception, with the subconscious being similar to what Cobb and Mall built with their dream homes.

I’m still a bit confused over whether Elliot is actually dead or not but either way Maura did keep him in a sim at some point to keep him alive. Potentially, people’s bodies age slower under stasis, and she forced him on this trip across the cosmos so they could go somewhere he could be cured. This is similar to what we saw with Lucien, who was travelling to America to get life-saving surgery. He might be going across the stars to have this carried out, and the end goal may be someplace both he and Elliott can get treatment.

Now Daniel did have memories of Elliot because his reality was much later in life, when Maura and he had a child together.

The passages beneath the passengers rooms all lead to their own past places and distinct moments in their lives.

Daniel is locked in the main chamber though he does eventually find a way out.

Maura climbs back on board the ship, and we see the book The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Published in 1899, this was about changing attitudes towards feminism at the turn of the century. It was very much centred around the condemnation of women, which of course is a reference to Maura and both her father’s and brother’s treatment of her. However, The Awakening also has a double meaning about her very much beginning to wake up to whats going on.

We also get a strong focus on her room number, 1011, which we also see is the number on the treatment room in the asylum. I did look at the ship at the end to see if it was there, but unfortunately it wasn’t.

Described as a bad dream Maura goes through the ship looking for Captain Eyk. Crawling through the tunnel, she discovers a recreation of his home, while Daniel winds up visiting several locations as he climbs through the framework.

We have what I believe are Angel and Ramiras before we then go to Oleks.

Maura herself winds up in Daniel’s, and she starts to see the truth.

Daniel returns to Maura’s memory, and while climbing through a grave, he comes across Elliot, who gives him a wedding ring.

He returns to Maura, who finally starts to accept the truth, and after she brings forth the Key, the pair attempt to escape before it all restarts.

Plot Twists In 1899 On Netflix

We discover that the loop lasts 8 days and that Daniel became aware of it and passed through the ports during the restarts. It’s basically like when you’ve played a computer game a number of times and are aware of how to cheat through the game, whereas the npcs inside aren’t.

Olek is taken out by a wave, Lucien’s seizures become too much for him, and Angel is killed by falling rubble, with he and Ramira telling each other that they love them.

The ship starts to sink, and Franz locks one of the flood doors, trapping himself in order to save Tove. Iben and Anker drown too and very few people are left at this point. Those who die do so because they can’t let go of the past or the people on the ship that they feel emotionally invested in.

This is very much echoed in Maura, who refuses to let go of Elliot.

We discover that each character on board the ship had a traumatic experience in their past and that they are reliving painful memories of their past. I view the prometheus as being a getaway for them, and rather than facing up to their pasts, they’re running away from them. Ciaran could potentially be obsessed with studying the human mind, and he might be using these journeys as a way to turn those onboard into his guinea pigs. If his father owned a company that built these ships, he would likely inherit it and now be running it. His sister and father would be the only ones capable of taking control from him, and this might be why they are locked up inside the simulation.

Now this also made me think of the Twilight Zone Episode In Search Of An Exit. This followed five characters stuck in a construct trying to figure out how to escape. In the end, it’s revealed that they’re all dolls dreaming of a reality similar to the discussion of doll houses here.

It’s also somewhat similar to The Evil Within, which basically followed someone trapped inside a simulated nightmare.

The Kerberos is pulled into a cyclone in order to start the next cycle and this transports it to the ship graveyard where the other ones were taken to. Thus, breaking Maura out of the loop becomes paramount. Her father tells her that he just needs the key and he’ll let her go, which takes us into the finale.

This shows a key moment of Maura and Elliot’s time together, with it being revealed that the bug is something he found and named Alfred. Maura tells Elliot that it would be wrong to keep it trapped in a cage, which is of course a nod to whats going on in the show.

Being transported to the ship graveyard also seems to lock them in, as most of the floor panels are now covered up. However, they manage to get into Daniel’s while those on the ship watch as the virus takes over.

Maura’s father runs Elliot through what’s really going on, and we see that Maura was the one who actually placed her son in this simulation so that she wouldn’t leave. Obsessed with the story of Plato’s cave, she decided to create this simulated loop that keeps him alive but also hides from her that she has a child because of the painful memories that would come with it.

She is very much the key that fits in the pyramid and tells her to wake up.

Daniel has other plans though, and he wants to wake Maura up without giving the key to her father. He hacks the mainframe, and this also allows the passengers on the ship to step into the traumatic memories of the characters, which somewhat bleed into each other.

Here they find the others who died on the ship, but they are corrupted. As we know, in reality they are ok, but on the outside, their minds may now be broken because of Ciaran’s experiments.

Eyk is shut down at the asylum by the inside man, who… yeah, I have no idea what his actual name is. Even the subtitles said he was called a crew member, so yeah, if you know, leave it below.

Also, change the reality of this video so that I didn’t make any mistakes, got his name, and made the best breakdown ever.

Maura finally makes it to her father and her dad alters it so we see the extended opening of the series. We discover that she is the creator and that she built upon her father’s work.

Though we know that Ciaran was involved in this too, it is important to keep in mind that Daniel is said to have built simulations as well.

He wanted to use them more for good, though, and it’s stated that they were all created as a way for people to escape their own pain.

Now I believe Maura wanted to escape the death of Elliot, which is shown by the fact his room is trapped under a child’s grave. Her memories of him are very much locked in here and I dunno if children would be making such a big journey through space.

However, her father does tell him he’s the key to this, and he seemingly wakes up, though not fully. Him being the key could mean hes the person who makes Maura realise the truth about their son, and this could snap her out of it.

Either way, she built this with him inside so that they could loop around with each other forever.

Her father takes the key, but it doesn’t work because Daniel changed the code and allowed the corruption to take over. He switched the pyramid and placed the key in the wedding ring.

This deletes the simulation, and Marua wakes up back in the wilderness. Rather than restarting, it’s taken them back to the first simulation they built.

Daniel gets her to activate the new key and he states that he’ll always be there. However, upon her coming to him, she isn’t.

Potentially Daniel is left behind on Earth, and the character we meet is more of a programme used to wake Maura up if her brother ever takes over.

Now Daniel tells her that her brother is now running things and has taken over the entire thing.

That takes us into theory time theory time theory time.

Ok, so I think that Maura probably made this journey out with her brother, and she was hit with the paintful memories of what happened in her past, so she decided to hit up the old sim and chill out.

Her brother used this opportunity to take over.

However, there’s also the potential that they both agreed to go down for the long nap, and he woke himself up, put Maura in an endless simulation so she couldn’t wake up, and then launched his coup.

Either way, he is aware that she’s woken up, and we close out the series zooming into her eye. This is important iconography, as we typically pull it from character eyes. I thgink the next season will be about her reuniting with Daniel on the ship. It seems that he could be a prisoner, as his entire mission here has been to break her out of it. He may be a programme that she has a failsafe to get her out incase her brother takes over. He clearly has no issue with mentally torturing people and even making them jump over the edge of the ship to their deaths.

Guy sounds like a bloody nutcase, and it really asks you what would happen if someone insane was running the asylum.

I think it would be even wilder if it were actually revealed that this whole ship reveal is its own simulation and that we’re even further into the bloody future.

That’s a crazy theory time theory time, and I’m going to stop talking nonsense all the time time time.

Now, if you look closely at Maura here, you might notice there are lots of veins on her face. Guessing space travel just drains you and that’s why its easier to stay in the simulation.

I’ll probably have another theory video coming out, as you really can’t trust anything in a show that is set so heavily around simulations, but those are my initial thoughts on what’s happening at the end here.

Now if you’ve been following the channel for a couple of years then you’ll know that we absolutely loved Dark. Picked it apart a number of times and it’s one of my favourite shows of all time. Because of this, I was really anticipating this series, and I’m happy to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Often, when a show has three brilliant episodes, it’s expected that a new series will match it instantly. Going in, I thought that this would be difficult for 1899 and that it would be at the same level as Dark Season 1. However, I actually think it’s better, and the cast and central mystery are just as enthralling as later entries of that season would come to be.

Dark was limited by the fact that a lot of people in the West wouldn’t give it a chance because it was a foreign-language show. This series has a wide range of actors from all over the world with there being a multitude of languages that make it so that eveyrone can be onboard.

Pun not intended.

I’m glad, and I think that everyone should definitely give this series a shot.

It’s super psychological, and it will constantly keep you on your toes as we watch what’s going on play out before us. 1899 is masterfully presented, with a feeling of unease throughout the entire thing. Not only do the languages make it so that characters can’t fully communicate with others, but the environment itself is constantly shifting and confusing them. This is very much how the audience feels too, and throughout it, there’s a great atmosphere to the entire thing that just makes it unnerving.

Shot mostly in either dark or dim circumstances, you never really know what’s going on in the characters minds or the show itself.

This makes it gripping to watch and I was constantly sat trying to figure out how everything linked together.

The cast all feel distinctive as well, and each one has their own backstory and traits that make them unique and special.

Sometimes in shows, the side characters can often get lost, but whether it’s the costume design or acting, I can pretty much remember every single character in this series. They all are fully 3 dimensional people hiding skeletons in their closet and you also understand what drives them and what their hopes are.

This is a testament to how good the writing in the series is, and whereas the concept of a high-level show like this can often distract from them, you do see performances that make them way more complex.

I think 1899 balances both it’s characters and it’s concept really well and it’s an easy recommend from me. Those sons of bitches at Dark have done it again, and 1899 is another highbrow show that’s going to suck you right in as you try and figure out what’s going on with the characters.

It scores a very solid 8/10, and I’m excited to see what these guys bring to us next time.

We’re running a competition right now and giving away 3 copies of House of the Dragon Season 1 on December 15. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is like the video, make sure you subscribe with notifications on, and drop a comment below with your thoughts on the episode. We pick the comments at random at the end of the month, and the winners of the last one are on screen right now, so message me at @heavyspoilers if that’s you.

If you want something else to watch, then make sure you check out our breakdown of the perfect scene in Spider-Man: Homecoming. We break down the entire thing, so it’s definitely worth checking out if you want to know more.

With that out of the way, thank you for sitting through the video; I’ve been Paul, and I’ll see you next time. Take care. Peace