In the world of Netflix's Haunting anthology, happily ever afters are hardly a guarantee for the characters. If anything, they're all too few and far between for a series filled with so many beloved and sympathetic characters. The Haunting of Bly Manor, though chronologically second of the anthology seasons, might even have more lovable characters than its predecessor.
But the series also has many characters who so desperately deserved much better than what they got in the end. Bly Manor's haunting of its inhabitants would extend well beyond the time in which individuals lived there, and as a result, most of the series' main characters deserved more in their endings, while only a few received a fitting ending.
Fitting: Perdita Lloyd
Few characters are guilty of more sins in the world of Bly Manor than the loathsome Perdita Lloyd. After all, it's Perdita's selfishness that creates the ghost who winds up haunting Bly Manor for centuries.
Perdita, unwilling to give up her own chance at happiness and wanting to put her sister out of her misery, murders her, steals her family and winds up being killed by the Lady of the Lake in the end - who is, of course, her own sister. Perdita sentences Viola to an eternity of unhappiness, and Viola gives her the same in return.
Deserved More: Viola Lloyd
It's true that Viola Lloyd goes on to become the fearsome Lady of the Lake, who kills any who interfere in her nightly attempts to reunite with her long-lost family. But Viola still deserved so much more than what she was given.
Viola had her husband, her daughter, and her entire life stripped away from her before she was sentenced to centuries of sleeping, waking, walking, and desperately seeking out the life she once had. In giving up her role as Lady of the Lake in the end, hopefully, Viola was able to reunite with her family.
Fitting: Miles Wingrave
Miles Wingrave had an incredibly tortured childhood. Following the loss of his parents, and after a truly traumatic stay in boarding school, Miles spent much of his youth in the haunted halls of Bly Manor, where he was used as a host for Peter Quint's ghost.
However, after all things were settled at Bly Manor, Miles appears to have lost all recollection of all that occurred there. Further, at his sister's wedding years later, Miles appears well-adjusted and happy.
Deserved More: Jamie Taylor
Jamie is yet another character who had a difficult upbringing, going in and out of the system and struggling to find her place in the world. But at Bly Manor, she found not only a family in the Wingraves and her colleagues but true love in her future wife, Dani Clayton.
Yet even after leaving Bly Manor, Jamie's life would be forever shaped by what happened there. Though she and Dani would spend over a decade together, Jamie would lose Dani to the lake at Bly in the end, leaving her to grow old and lonely without her love.
Fitting: Owen Sharma
As with many of the characters who worked in the halls of Bly Manor, Owen Sharma dreamed of doing great things. A cook for the Wingrave family, Owen was limited in his career pursuits due to family obligations and his own loyalty to the Wingraves and his friends.
But after all changed at Bly Manor, Owen was able to pursue his culinary dreams, opening a successful restaurant and flourishing - though sadly, he would do so without his ill-fated love, Hannah.
Deserved More: Rebecca Jessel
Rebecca Jessel wanted to be a lawyer. Rebecca Jessel wanted to find true love. Rebecca Jessel wanted to travel. She wanted so many things, but sadly, due to an act of selfishness and the haunting of all who lived at Bly Manor, she would never be able to achieve any of those things.
Though she found romantic love with Peter, and familial love with the inhabitants of Bly Manor, Rebecca's life was cut tragically short in Peter's attempts to ensure they would be together forever. Someone so bright and so kind deserved so much more.
Fitting: Henry Wingrave
It should be well clear by now that all those who lived or loved in the halls of Bly Manor hardly had easy lives. Henry Wingrave, for example, fell in love with his brother's wife and fathered her youngest child, Flora. But following the passing of his brother and his love, Henry withdrew.
Yet in the end, Henry would prove heroic, playing a vital role in the final battle at Bly Manor. He would repair his relationship with his daughter and his nephew, going on to raise them and playing a key role in Flora's wedding.
Deserved More: Hannah Grose
Bly Manor is a series filled with tragic tales and heartbreaking endings, but few are as shocking, as sudden, and as devastating as the reveal of Hannah Grose's fate. Hannah gave everything she had to the care and keeping of Bly Manor, equal parts stern and loving with the tasking Wingrave children.
She also poured her heart into her sadly unrequited relationship with Owen, a romance that never came to fruition due to her sudden death. Hannah's unawareness of her own status as a ghost is one of the most harrowing parts of the series.
Fitting: Flora Wingrave
Though always cheery and sunny in her disposition as a child, Flora Wingrave had her fair share of trauma and haunting that she hid beneath the surface. Able to see the ghosts of Peter and Rebecca, as well as the other spirits that haunted the halls of Bly Manor, Flora was one of the most truly aware inhabitants of the manor.
She nearly died on multiple occasions, saved only by the kindness and sacrifices of individuals like Dani Clayton. Thankfully, after leaving Bly Manor, Flora, much like her brother, would go on to forget all that happened there, getting married to her true love as an adult in the series' present timeline.
Deserved More: Dani Clayton
Without question, Dani Clayton is a uniquely kind, compassionate, and selfless individual. Driven by her fear of her own past, as well as her endless love for the children she teaches and protects, Dani does whatever it takes to make sure that all of those around her are happy and safe - even if it means she is neither of those things.
Dani gets a happy ending in terms of her romance and eventual marriage with her true love, Jamie. But her life is tragically haunted and cut short due to her bond with the Lady of the Lake Viola Lloyd, a fated role she must herself take on when the hauntings become too much for her to bear psychologically.