Warning: The following article contains major spoilers for The King's Man

As the third entry in the Kingsman franchise, The King's Man ending shakes up the formula established in earlier entries. Following on the success of 2014's Kingsman: The Secret Service, starring Taron Egerton and Colin Firth, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the movie contains many now-familiar tropes and series hallmarks. However, while fans will still find much to enjoy, there are some important points of difference with The King's Man ending, as well as other key features.

The King's Man takes place in the early 1900s, leading up to WWI, where an aristocrat named Orlando Oxford, a.k.a The Duke of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) is caught up in the burgeoning plans for war in Europe. He is a pacifist, having lost his wife while working for the Red Cross during the Boer War in 1902, and has since resolved to help England from his position as Duke to avoid conflict. Years later, as WWI kicks off, Oxford's son, Conrad (Harris Dickinson), is unrelenting in his desire to join the war effort, while Oxford stalls him, having promised his dying wife that he will keep their son out of harm's way. Working behind the scenes, Oxford confers with King George V (Tom Hollander), the British War Secretary Herbert Kitchener (Charles Dance) and his adjutant, Captain Morton (Matthew Goode) to help stave off the threat of greater conflict, hoping to end the war by enticing the U.S. to get involved. Meanwhile, a secret council meets on a remote cliff in Scotland, led by a mysterious character named The Shepherd, who brings together all manner of historical villains, from Mata Hari (Valerie Pachner) to Erik Jan Hanussen (Daniel Bruhl) to Grigori Rasputin (Rhys Ifans), all of whom work together to help influence the war effort that will ultimately lead to the annihilation of Great Britain.

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Ultimately, The King's Man ending arguably features more tragedy than either of the two previous franchise installments. It's also undoubtedly true that the narrative plays fast and loose with established history, approaching it with tongue-in-cheek braggadocio. However, despite the mix of familiar Kingsman tone with slightly unfamiliar sadness, there's no doubt that the finale ultimately effectively lays the foundations for the future Kingsman spy agency. Here's what happens in The King's Man ending and why.

What Happens In The King's Man Ending

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After Rasputin is killed, Conrad announces to his father that he will be joining the war. He asks for his support, which Oxford denies, as it would break the promise he made to Conrad's mother to keep him safe. Conrad enlists anyway and Oxford secretly arranges to have him stay out of harm's way. However, Conrad planned for that contingency and trades places with another soldier named Archie Reid (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who returns to the Oxford Manor shortly afterwards to deliver a letter from Conrad. While in his new identity on the front lines, Conrad helps intercept intelligence from a fallen British agent, who is injured in the chaos of No Man's Land and trapped there. After a battle with German shock troops, Conrad locates the agent and carries him back to the trenches. However, another soldier finds out Conrad is going by the name Archie Reid and kills him, thinking that Conrad is a spy, as the soldier says he knows the real Archie.

The news of Conrad's death devastates Oxford, and he retreats into drunken sadness and seclusion, having failed to keep his promise to his wife. He is later rallied by Polly, who tells him she will leave his service if he doesn't pull it together, reminding him of his mission to use his privilege to better the world. Oxford cleans up and goes to the U.S. Embassy in London, where he has a brief altercation with Mata Hari, leading to intel on the location of The Shepherd. Oxford, Shola, and Polly infiltrate the cliff in Scotland, finally confronting The Shepherd, who is revealed to be Matthew Goode's Captain Mortan, a Scottish spy who reveals that he's hellbent on destroying England as retribution for their acquisition of his ancestral land. Going against his usual pacifist nature, Oxford kills The Shepherd and locates a "sex tape" of Mata Hari and President Wilson. He has the tape delivered to the President, who then tosses it into the fire, destroying the evidence of his infidelity, and prompting the U.S. to join the war effort, effectively ending WWI.

Who Founded The Kingsman And What's The Significance Of The Name?

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In the final moments of the film, Oxford has all of the players involved in the mission meet at The Kingsman tailor shop (which serves as a secret meeting place throughout the film), where he announces that he's bought the shop and it will serve as a meeting place for their new secret spy organization, which the King adopts as an arm of the British intelligence community. Oxford also announces that those in attendance would be given code names that relate to King Arthur, as the tale was so dear to his deceased son, Conrad. Oxford is Arthur, Polly is Galahad, Shola is Merlin, Archie Reid is Lancelot, The U.S. Ambassador (Stanley Tucci) is Bedivere, while King George V takes the name of Percival.

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The founder, as it turns out, is none other than Fiennes' The Duke of Oxford. Oxford becomes the original "Arthur" who is the de facto head of the Kingsman organization. In Kingsman: The Secret Service, Arthur is played by Michael Caine, who turns out to be working for the antagonists in that film. In the sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, a new Arthur is played by veteran actor Michael Gambon. The significance of "The King's Man" boils down to Oxford being a gentleman in the service of King George V, and by proxy, Great Britain itself. Throughout the film, Oxford confers with The King, helping to plan and shape the country's destiny, in this case by helping to end the war. The Arthurian connection of the nicknames comes from Oxford's son, Conrad, who took a liking to the story at an early age, even referring to his father as Arthur. In essence, the use of the King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table names, all the way up to the modern-day films, is in honor of the late Conrad. King Arthur's Knights existed to serve the king and the nation itself, making The Kingsman a metaphorical version of the Arthurian legend.

Who Was The Shepherd And Why Did He Want England Destroyed?

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The Shepherd was none other than Matthew Goode's Captain Morton, the adjutant to Charles Dance's British War Secretary Herbert Kitchener. Kitchener was a real person, portrayed relatively accurately in the Kingsman world, albeit with much context missing. The British officer was killed when his ship, sailing to Russia to meet with Tsar Nicholas II, was hit by a German mine and sunk. In The King's Man, the ship is sunk by a torpedo, fired from a sub by The Shepherd, who jumped ship earlier in order to fake his own death. Throughout the film, The Shepherd, as Captain Morton, is constantly challenged or shunned by Kitchener and Oxford, although they are seemingly on friendly terms. Unbeknownst to them, however, Morton is actually The Shepherd and is essentially doing his own spy work to get the intel he needs to help destroy England.

His reasoning for doing so stems from the age-old rivalry between Scotland and England, as England fought to control the country for centuries. The Shepherd simply seeks to make them pay for their misdeeds in acquiring Scotland, but doesn't seem to have a direct reasoning for his actions outside of a simple hatred for the English. Scotland became part of the United Kingdom in the 1700s, so it appears to be a nationalistic reason for The Shepherd's actions, more so than a personal one. As with all "historical" aspects in The King's Man, the events are often true, but how they happen and the circumstances are changed to include fictional characters and events that serve the film's narrative, rather than serving to inform the viewer about actual historical events.

The King's Man Is Really An Anti-War Film

Harris Dickinson as Conrad in The King's Man

What The King's Man really boils down to, and the main reason for the organization coming together in an official capacity, is to stop war from ever happening. After losing his only son to war, Oxford forms the organization as a means of healing his own failings, both to his son and to his country. Oxford's approach as a pacifist ultimately proved to cost him everything. Two different wars at two different times took his wife and son, and even as he approached those situations from a place of caring and concern, his unshakeable faith in nonviolence proved futile. In order to stop wars from happening, he would have to go on the offense, defeating their rise from behind the scenes, as a spy, and doing what is necessary, violent or otherwise, for the greater good.

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Oxford also preached to Conrad about being civilized and being a gentleman, telling him how such a term would've been viewed as weak mere centuries before. The evolution of man, as well as the elevated privilege of some, beckons them to a greater calling that goes beyond base-level violence. Still, even with all his preaching and teaching, Conrad could not shake the desire to go to war and fight for his country, a deed in which Oxford could not endorse. The term "Oxfords not Brogues" is one coined in the original Kingsman films, which implies that a Kingsman is more refined, smarter, more clever and civilized than the average person. Originally, the term is a comparison to a type of shoe worn only with suits (Oxfords) rather than shoes that were meant to be used in more rural or casual settings (Brogues). Now, with The King's Man, the term has a sort of double meaning that still supports the original, as it pertains to the literal founder of The Kingsman and being more like him, rather than like everyone else. In essence, it means to be a better man, a civilized man, who seeks to stop wars before they happen, rather than be the cause of them beginning. In essence, it sums up The Kingsman mythology perfectly.

The Real Meaning Of The King's Man Ending

KIng's Man Secret service members outside the tailor shop in The King's Man

The King's Man ending's ultimate meaning is the plight of being a parent, wanting to protect your children (and your legacy) at all costs, hoping to keep them from any kind of harm or challenge so that they may live their best lives possible. However, the world often has other plans, and parents reluctantly (and begrudgingly) have to accept that their children will choose their own paths, however dangerous, and that there isn't anything that can be done to stop them, regardless of the best efforts to do so. In the case of Oxford, his attempts to fulfill a dying woman's promise, as well as promote his own beliefs in pacifism, were not enough to stop his son from his willful desire to go to war and fight. It's the greatest burden of a parent, to accept that their children grow up and choose their own path, a lesson that cost Oxford a great deal of pain and remorse. Oxford chose to deal with his loss by forming The Kingsman, an organization dedicated to stopping war and conflict before it can ever begin, thereby saving the lives of the many sons and daughters that would choose to march to their doom if those events ever reached their doorstep.

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