In a world as surreal as that of The Man in the High Castle, it's virtually impossible to expect that all characters will receive what viewers have come to understand as happy endings. Never minding the fact that there are multiple versions of main characters living across the murkily defined multiverse, the world of High Castle is one that is often dark, grim, and seemingly without end.
Over four seasons, the series explored wildly different characters from varying walks of life, many of whom were darker than the last. Yet even with glimmers of hope through the characters of the Resistance, The Man in the High Castle functions as a cautionary tale, one that is unrelenting and unforgiving — both in depiction of its characters and communication of its core message.
Fitting Ending: Helen Smith
For better or worse, as High Castle progressed, Helen Smith became more of an active participant in the series' main storyline.
That was apparent nowhere more than in the polarizing final season, which found Helen crossing lines and serving as a key player in the fall of the American Reich. Following the loss of her son Thomas and faced with the loss of her daughters, Helen risked everything she had — even her life — to aid the Resistance in their efforts.
Deserved More: Robert Childan
Robert Childan may have been the character of focus in the original High Castle novel, but he often served a supporting background role in the series. In the final two seasons, however, Childan developed a more meaningful presence, particularly through his heartwarming romance with Yukiko.
But as with so many characters in the High Castle multiverse, Childan's happy ending was not meant to be, as a future with Yukiko slipped through his grasp.
Fitting Ending: Wyatt Price
Though fan reception to the late addition of Wyatt Price was tepid at best, there's no denying that his character received an ending that was truly fitting for his purpose.
As a once morally gray figure in the fight of the Neutral Zone against the Reich, Wyatt managed to become one of the Resistance's major players. He saw the final battle through to the end, standing at the forefront as the portal between worlds was opened and the Reich fell.
Deserved More: Thomas Smith
As the true product of his parents' political ambitions and the toxic world in which he was raised, Thomas Smith was a character whose story was forever destined to end unhappily.
Diagnosed at a young age with a severe form of muscular dystrophy, Thomas has been so indoctrinated with the hateful ideology and rhetoric of his parents' world and his own education that he willingly euthanizes himself. To lose such a young boy to this odious world order is one of the most unconscionable losses in the series.
Fitting Ending: Joe Blake
Joe Blake is one of the series' most wasted and unlikable characters. In the first season, Joe is an ambiguous character, one whose moral alignment is constantly changing, and who seemingly has the potential to change and grow.
All of that changes with the second season, which finds Joe wasting away while getting high with the German elite. In the third season, any hope of his redemption is gone as he has become fully loyal to the darkest parts of the world. So his death at Juliana's hand, as shocking and gruesome as it may have been, is indeed a fitting ending for his character.
Deserved More: Frank Frink
The men in Juliana Crain's life rarely seem to get away unscathed. But no man deserved a better ending than Frank Frink. As the series' primary Jewish character, Frank has a deeply personal stake in taking down the rising American Reich, and the Japanese Empire as well.
He becomes radicalized through his own underground Resistance efforts, nearly killing himself in the process of taking down a major Japanese political stronghold. After surviving, though badly scarred, Frank lives a life of quiet faith, artistry, and solitude, before being executed by the Japanese authorities he long evaded.
Fitting Ending: Takeshi Kido
For all the evils he wrought in the name of the Imperial Power, it's fitting that the truly morally ambiguous Chief Inspector Takeshi Kido ends the series in a virtual form of purgatory.
Having struggled to protect his emotional and rashly behaving son throughout the final season, Kido is willing to sacrifice the rest of his life to live in service of the Kempeitai. He goes from being a power player to a cog in the continually moving machine.
Deserved More: Juliana Crain
It's a recurring theme in recent years of television and movies alike: the strong yet vulnerable female lead rarely gets the satisfying ending she deserves. As the true leader of the Resistance movement, Juliana Crain is the character around whom the entire series and the multiverse revolves.
She is the girl in the films, the girl who's supposed to bring balance and peace to a world in chaos, the girl who is supposed to provide all the answers. But in the end, Juliana is left staring into a gaping light and void, left with just as many unanswered questions as the series' frustrated viewers.
Fitting Ending: John Smith
Though an unsatisfying arc in many ways, it was clear that John Smith's story was only ever going to end one way. As he continued his rise among the powers of the American Reich, John continued to become less and less like the man he once was, even as he claimed to only seek power to protect his family.
At the end of the series, however, he had become stripped of all that had once mattered to him, and was then forced to reckon with the ugly shadow of a man he had become. After witnessing his life in the multiverse, John realized he couldn't live it any longer and killed himself in front of long-time rival Juliana.
Deserved More: Nobusuke Tagomi
High Castle certainly had a knack for killing off major characters, both with and without clear causes to do so. But no character received a more unjust, unsatisfying, and utterly confusing ending than Trade Minister Nobusuke Tagomi.
A major player in the series' first three seasons, in the construction and explanation of the multiverse, and in Juliana Crain's life in all worlds, Tagomi is inexplicably assassinated off-screen between seasons 3 and 4. Such an integral and beloved character deserved so much more.