The King: Netflix: Twist Ending Explained + Real Life Story Breakdown

Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers, I’m your host Deffinition and you’re now locked into the channel where we break down all the latest movies, new game releases, tv shows and comic books. This episode we’re gonna be breaking down everything that you need to know about The King on Netflix as well as it’s twist ending.

Throughout the video we’ll be discussing the haircuts, history and our general thoughts on the film.

There will be heavy spoilers here, so if you haven’t had a chance to watch the movie yet and don’t want to know anything about it then I highly recommend that you turn off now.

With that out the way I just wanna give a huge thank you for clicking this video, now let’s get into The King.

The King Plot Recap

It’s the 1400s and we follow Henry Prince Of Wales, also known as Hal throughout the majority of the story. Hal wants to remain as far away from the trappings of royalty as possible and just wants a simple life, distant from the trappings of his warmongering and paranoid father, Henry The Fourth, who spends the majority of his life drinking.

Henry calls for Hal, informing him that he will not be King even though he is his eldest child. Instead, his younger brother Thomas will be inheriting the role and he informs Hal that his sibling wishes to fight and put an end to a rebellion. It looks like he’s even more war-hungry than Henry senior is that drives one of the big conflicts early on.

There’s a lot to take on board and those who haven’t got a Ph.D. in History may get lost with the plot and all the Kings and Queens of the olden days, however, here in England we have to learn all this crap and what it basically boils down to, in my expert opinion, is a tale of someone who is forced to be a leader that doesn’t want to lead.

Hal Becomes King

Thomas and Hal both go to fight the Hotspur Rebellion with the former feeling upstaged by the late arrival of his brother who steals his glory, killing Hotspur with a blade thus ending the war fight before it even really begins.

It’s an awesome fight that really elevates the movie early on and this is a Game Of Clones in all the right way with it mimicking some of the early production styles of the series to great effect. Hal tells his brother to bail on fighting people that dress up as Iron-Man when he escaped the cave but Thomas ignores him and is killed shortly after.

Henry the Fourth succumbs to old age at the age of about 30, which was normal back then and as Hal is the only surviving member of his lineage he is pronounced King.

Unlike his father though Hal doesn’t want to be paranoid and war-hungry, constantly angry because his cousin didn’t like his status and instead he opts to be a beacon of peace and prosperity. This doesn’t sit too well with others and as an insult, The Dauphin Of France sends a ball, which as we all know from our middle school history class is worse than having someone say ‘doth thou wear thou mother’s drapes?’

Whilst it would emasculate most, Hal sees it as a positive, confirming that he is doing the right thing but ol’ Frenchie won’t stop and quickly an Assassin is sent by the King Charles the sixth of France to kill Hal. Left with no choice, Hal decides to announce that they are going to war with the country and they’re gonna BEHEADING off to France.

The Seige Of France

Joined by William Gascoigne his chief advisor and Falstaff they start to ride to war in the hopes of cementing Henry as a formidable King that deserves some respect.

They arrive in the country and lay THEIGE sorry Seige to the land which is when the movie introduces its main antagonist played by Robert Battinson. He really knocks it out of the park and provides a complete polar opposite to the roles that the actor normally tends to play, making fun of how big his balls are. He also kills kids, cuts their heads off, looks like he’s auditioning for a L’oreal advert and basically I dunno why Hal didn’t just kill him.

Hal’s army rides through the land and eventually comes face to face with the French army, who by far outmatch them in numbers. Against most of his advisors, Hal decides that it is time to strike and he says ‘if it rains tonight we fight tomorrow.’ This is because the King knows that the extra armor and horses that the French Army carry will get stuck in the mud which will allow the long-bowmen to rain down on them.

Before the battle Hal goest to the Dauphin, challenging him to a one on one fight which will decide the outcome of the battle, saving countless lives. The Dauphin refuses, he’s not really doing much for the French Coward stereotype and thus the battle commences…..I’m pretty sure no French people watch this channel, can we…can we check that…yeah we’re fine.

The Battle

Hal delivers a roaring speech about England that will make any blue-blooded brit shed a tear and the battle begins. It’s a great conflict that really feels like the highlight of the entire film and it’s clear Netflix spared no expense with the reenactment. Just watching a mass of soldiers march forward through the mud is brilliant and it’s rare to see a battle play out like this with such authenticity.

The plan works too and the English beat the soldiers using their surroundings to their location. However just as you think Falstaff is about to deliver Brexit he is killed. Both Hal and The Dauphin enter the battle with the former murdering many soldiers in an incredible one-shot fight that spans the field and sort of feels touched with an ounce of sadness as we watch him slowly turning into a man that he would promise never to be.

This kinda plays into the end with Hal becoming his father after seeing first hand the atrocities and tragedies that his rule brings about.

The battle ends with The Dauphin entering the conflict and constantly slipping in the mud which gives him a really humiliating end. The guy looks like an absolute idiot and it’s an awesome way to just show how laughable of a leader he was.

The King Netflix Ending Explained

Hal orders the prisoners to be murdered and slowly starts to succumb to the dark side. Wars make warriors and there is a real hint here that Hal may becoming a monster which hold’s weight for the eventual end of the story.

Following this major defeat of The French Army, Hal travels deeper into the country with his forces and eventually comes face to face with King Charles The Sixth who surrenders and offers Hal his daughter’s hand in marriage to unite their kingdom. Mr. Steal Yo Daughter accepts and returns home with a new wife.

Now this is where the big twist happens and we’re just gonna break down what it was about and the motivations behind. Hal’s new wife Catherine believes that Hal is a war mongering idiot, much like his father and she refuses to submit to him, stating that he must earn her respect. She asks if he feels a sense of achievement and questions why he invaded France which is when the big reveal happens.

It turns out the assassin earlier on in the movie that pretty much started the entire conflict was not sent by King Charles and it was all a play by Willaim Gascoigne to manipulate the King and get him to go to war. This is because William due to the conflict, William has gained a lot of new land which he is set to make a fortune off.

Hal questions William on how he managed to capture the assassin and the silver-tongued snake quickly contradicts himself, being unable to explain where or when or how he managed to find the assassin.

This pretty much confirms Hal’s worst fears and the King kills his servant after he exclaims that he has given him what he wanted which is peace.

It kinda reminded me of the old saying ‘if you want peace, prepare for war’ and the Kingdom is indeed united with many in the streets shouting ‘King Henry.’ Hal still won’t take this betrayal though and he kills Willaim, stabbing him as he bows before him.

Hal requests that Catherine always tells him the truth to avoid going to war once more thus the film ends.

The King Real Life Story

Now in real life, this didn’t happen the way that the film depicts it with Gascoigne probably being removed from his post or resigning after the appointment of King Henry. The real Gascoigne died in 1419 and was buried in Yorkshire. There are lots of accounts that contradict this including Shakespeare’s Henry The Fourth Part 2 in which Henry The Fifth is crowned and he tells Gascoigne that he will continue to hold his post.

This may have some actual historical basis though it could be like this movie and be doing it for dramatic effect but it may suggest that his resignation was voluntary.

As for Henry well he died in 1422 at the age of 35 due to dysentery, though this is up for debate. Some believe it was due to heatstroke because he had been riding in full armor the day before in blistering heat and unfortunately, the medical equipment didn’t exist back then so we have no way of knowing.

Henry reigned for nine years before his demise and named his son, Henry the sixth the king. Henry was only a few months old at the time and he reigned for 50 years which was like 100 back then.

There’s a lot of history to the family that we don’t have the time to get into here but it’s definitely worth checking out, especially Henry The Eighth who was pretty much a psychopath that had six wives, some of which he had executed because blocking people on social media didn’t exist back then.

The King Review

Overall though I really enjoyed the film and it’s always great when historical epics like this remind us of exactly how things used to be in human history. The film, though not perfect, is still a great addition to the Netflix platform and in 4k Dolby Vision the movie really shines.

As with most historical epics like this, the film is slightly lenient with the truth and changes many of the events of history in order to create a more engaging narrative.

That’s probably the only major downfall I can see people finding with The King and it’s really well acted and portrays the darker side of the monarchy and the way that they used to act, being above the law, allowed to murder without trials and based purely on judgement.

The King is a brilliant character study on a man becoming his own father, even though he tries his best not to and overall it’s an enjoyable watch that I think many people will find engaging.

The King was great and it gets an…