The Terror Series Finale & Tuunbaq Explained

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for The Terror

AMC miniseries The Terror has come to a gruesome close in tonight's series finale, with the villainous Cornelius Hickey and the weary Francis Crozier finally facing the Tuunbaq - the spirit-monster that has been hunting them. Based on the novel of the same name by Dan Simmons, which in turn was based on the true story of the ill-fated Franklin expedition, The Terror has spent 10 gripping episodes blending fantasy-horror with the grim truth of the 19th century voyage that claimed the lives of 129 men.

After abandoning The Terror and The Erebus to embark on a long and difficult journey back to civilization, things went from bad to worse for Captain Crozier and his remaining crew. Hickey led a mutiny that split the survivors into two groups, and the spoiled tins of food began to take their toll on the men. Hickey forced the men in his camp to turn to cannibalism in order to survive, and in the penultimate episode he sent some of his followers to kidnap Crozier. In the series finale, the true nature of Hickey's plan finally comes to light - and things don't really end well for anyone.

This Page: Goodsir's Sacrifice and Hickey's Ritual
Page 2: Tuunbaq's Death, Lady Silence's Departure and Crozier's Fate

Goodsir's Sacrifice

Resigned to die in the tundra, Harry Goodsir decides to go out on his own terms and find a way to make his death serve a purpose. He tells Crozier that, when Hickey and the others make a meal of him, to "eat only of my feet" if he is given no other choice, and to eat from the soles of his feet if possible, where the skin is toughest. Later, Goodsir mixes up a poison and rubs it over his skin. Then he drinks a bottle of poison as well, to make sure his "meat" is thoroughly spoiled. So that Hickey and the others will not suspect that he poisoned himself, Goodsir then cuts his wrists with broken glass. He dies shortly afterwards.

Hickey takes the bait, declaring that Goodsir "made a gift of himself," and ordering Crozier to eat from his corpse with the rest of the men. Crozier refuses, and Hickey orders one of the remaining men to stand up - clearly implying that he will be killed if Crozier continues to refuse. Crozier relents, but following Goodsir's instructions he takes a slice from the sole of his foot. Hickey is satisfied, and the rest of the men eat the poisoned meat.

Hickey's Ritual

The men drag the lifeboat up to the top of the hill, on Hickey's orders. They believe that they are going there to kill Tuunbaq, but Hickey has other plans. He finally reveals the truth: he is not actually Cornelius Hickey at all. He murdered the real Cornelius Hickey after hearing about the expedition and deciding that it would be worth a yearlong trip to get to the other side of the world. He stole Hickey's identity in order to join the expedition, and declares that after three years spent in the freezing Arctic, he has no intention of going back to London.

Hickey begins shouting the hymn "God Bless Our Native Land" at the top of his voice to draw Tuunbaq in, as around him the men start vomiting, succumbing to the poison. The Tuunbaq arrives, and despite the sailors' attempts to fight it off, they are slaughtered one by one, until only Crozier and Hickey remain. As the Tuunbaq kills the men, Hickey cuts out his tongue - part of the Inuit ritual through which a person can tie themselves to Tuunbaq and become a shaman. Hickey brought the men with him not to kill the creature, but as sacrificial offerings to it.

The last of the men to be killed is Hickey's fellow mutineer Tozer, who is chained to Crozier. Tuunbaq swallows Tozer, the chain sticking in its throat. Hickey then holds out his hand, with his severed tongue in the palm, clearly expecting a reward for all his offerings. However, Hickey is not fit to become a shaman: his soul has been spoiled by the sin of cannibalism, and his body has been spoiled by the poison that Goodsir used. Instead of accepting the tongue, Tuunbaq bites down on Hickey's arm and then rips him in half, teaching us all a valuable lesson about the dangers of cultural appropriation.

Page 2: Tuunbaq's Death, Lady Silence's Departure & Crozier's Fate

Tuunbaq's Death

Tuunbaq is already sick when it arrives on the scene. In a previous episode, The Terror's Ice Master, Thomas Blanky, revealed that his amputated leg had become gangrenous - a death sentence. He decided to sacrifice himself to give the others a chance to escape the beast, and tied cutlery all over his body so that when Tuunbaq swallowed him its insides would be torn up. The creature came upon Blanky shortly after he discovered the Northwest Passage - the entire purpose of the expedition.

When Tuunbaq tries to eat the upper half of Hickey's body, the chain is already lodged in its throat and it starts to choke. It is already dying from eating crew members that were sick from the tainted tins, from the damage caused when it ate Blanky, and most recently from eating the men who were poisoned by eating Goodsir's body. It doesn't take much more to finish it off. Crozier tugs viciously on the other end of the chain, causing Tuunbaq further internal damage. Finally it collapses, vomits, and dies - a symbol of the damage caused by the invading British explorers' attempts to tame its lands.

Though the creature has dogged the crew's footsteps throughout the series, The Terror shied away from blunt exposition of its true nature. Simmons based the monster on the Inuit myths of the tuurngaq, collectively known as tuurngait - spirits that can be either helpful or harmful. Tuunbaq can be connected to Inuit shamans through the ritual that Hickey tried and failed to execute, which involves a person cutting out their tongue and Tuunbaq eating it. This then allows the shaman a measure of control over Tuunbaq. Lady Silence's father was one of the shamans connected to Tuunbaq, which is why the creature began slaughtering the crew after they accidentally killed him. Ultimately, however, the vendetta against the expedition ended up killing Tuunbaq as well.

Lady Silence's Departure

Lady Silence is traveling through the tundra with one of the other shamans connected to Tuunbaq, looking for the creature, when the shaman senses that Tuunbaq has died. Resignedly, the shaman turns back, but Silence decides to keep searching. She passes by a crew member who ran away when Tuunbaq arrived, but ignores his pleas for help and leaves him to die. She finds Crozier and Tuunbaq, and spends a moment mourning the great spirit, spilling the last drops of water from her waterskin onto its tongue.

After discovering realizing that Crozier's wrist cannot be freed from the chain, Lady Silence cuts his hand off and then takes him away, setting up a camp and tending to his wounds. Crozier insists that they go looking for his men, and they travel across the tundra in search of them. Sadly, there is not much to find: camp after camp filled with dead bodies, with the final camp revealing that the men eventually gave in to cannibalism. The only man left alive is Edward Little, the officer who tried to get the men to rescue Crozier. His face is adorned with piercings and golden chains - a detail based on the real-life discovery of a Franklin expedition officer whose body was similarly adorned. Little dies shortly after Crozier arrives.

Lady Silence and Crozier return to the Inuit camp. Crozier learns from their leader that Lady Silence's real name is Silna. We see her leaving in the early hours of the morning, and when Crozier emerges from his tent later in the day he discovers that she is gone. He asks the Inuit leader where she is, and is told, "She lost Tuunbaq. Alone is the way for her now." Crozier asks why, and is told, "That's the way. Everyone accepts this." Crozier wants to go after her, but no one will tell him which direction she left in. Ultimately, he has to accept that she is gone.

Crozier's Fate

Crozier is asked where he wants to go, but cannot find an answer. He is told that he can stay with the Inuit through winter, and decide what he wants to do in spring. In the end, he elects to stay with the tribe. In September 1850, two men from the rescue party searching for Terror and Erebus arrive at the camp - as they did in the series premiere. Crozier pulls up his hood, and tells the Inuit leader to tell the rescuers that he is dead, along with everyone else onboard the ships, that the ships are gone, and that the Northwest Passage does not exist.

Afterwards, Crozier heads out onto the ice with some of the other Inuit. The series ends with a shot of him poised by a fishing hole with a spear, an Inuk child asleep at his side. After everything that Crozier has been through and burdened with the guilt of losing his men, he cannot bring himself to return to England. The novel ends on a similar note, except that Tuunbaq doesn't die and Crozier decides to leave with Lady Silence rather than staying with the rest of the Inuit.

What did you think of The Terror's series finale? Let us know in the comments!