The Hereditary ending explained in full reveals one of the most meticulously crafted horror conclusions in modern cinema, where every unsettling detail from the previous two hours converges into a nightmarish coronation ceremony. Ari Aster’s 2018 directorial debut doesn’t simply end””it detonates, leaving audiences stunned and scrambling to understand what they’ve just witnessed. The film’s final fifteen minutes transform a family tragedy into something far more sinister, revealing that the Graham family’s suffering was never random but rather the culmination of a generations-long occult conspiracy. Understanding Hereditary’s conclusion matters because the film operates on multiple narrative levels simultaneously.
On the surface, it appears to be a story about grief, mental illness, and family dysfunction following the death of the Graham family’s secretive matriarch, Ellen. However, the ending recontextualizes everything, exposing a demonic plot that has been unfolding since before Annie Graham was even born. Without grasping the mechanics of this conspiracy, viewers miss the horrifying implications embedded throughout the film””the significance of the symbol carved into the telephone pole, why Charlie was always clicking her tongue, and what Ellen’s involvement truly meant. By the end of this analysis, readers will understand the role of the demon Paimon, the function of each family member in the cult’s plan, the meaning behind the film’s recurring symbols, and why the ending represents both a tragedy and a triumph depending on perspective. This breakdown examines the hereditary curse that passes through the Graham bloodline, the deliberately planted clues Aster scattered throughout the narrative, and how the film’s conclusion comments on grief, possession, and the horror of losing control over one’s own family.
Table of Contents
- What Actually Happens in Hereditary’s Ending Scene?
- The Demon Paimon: Understanding Hereditary’s Central Evil
- Ellen’s Role: The Grandmother’s Cult Leadership in Hereditary
- Charlie Graham: The Tragic Vessel in Hereditary’s Demonic Plot
- How Does Grief Function as Horror in Hereditary’s Story?
- Visual Symbolism and Foreshadowing Throughout Hereditary
- How to Prepare
- How to Apply This
- Expert Tips
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Actually Happens in Hereditary’s Ending Scene?
The climax of hereditary begins when Peter Graham, having been slowly weakened throughout the film, wakes in the middle of the night to find his mother Annie possessed and crawling on the ceiling above him. What follows is a relentless chase sequence through the darkened house, where Peter encounters naked cult members standing silently in corners, his grandmother’s decapitated corpse positioned in the attic, and finally witnesses Annie sawing off her own head with piano wire while floating in the air. The imagery is shocking, but every element serves the narrative purpose of completing Paimon’s ritual transfer. Peter escapes through the attic window and falls to the ground below, appearing to die or lose consciousness. A glowing light enters his body””this is Paimon finally taking full possession of his ideal host.
Peter rises, now no longer himself, and calmly walks toward the treehouse where a congregation of naked cult members awaits. Inside, he finds an altar surrounded by the decapitated heads of his mother, grandmother, and sister Charlie, all arranged in worship of a statue adorned with the symbol of Paimon. The film ends with a cult member placing a crown on Peter’s head and addressing him as King Paimon, one of the eight Kings of Hell, while reciting the demon’s attributes: wealth, knowledge, and the subjugation of men. The final shot holds on Peter’s blank, shell-shocked expression as the cult celebrates their victory. The hereditary curse has reached its intended conclusion””not a curse of madness, but a carefully orchestrated ritual spanning generations to provide a demon with a human vessel.
The Demon Paimon: Understanding Hereditary’s Central Evil
Paimon is not an invention of the filmmakers but rather derives from actual demonological texts, specifically the Lesser Key of Solomon, a grimoire dating to the mid-seventeenth century. According to these occult sources, Paimon is one of the Kings of Hell who appears as a man riding a camel, preceded by a host of spirits playing instruments. The demon possesses vast knowledge of arts, sciences, and secret things, and can provide familiars, dignities, and the confirmation of positions of power. Aster’s film draws directly from these descriptions while adapting them for cinematic horror.
The crucial detail that drives Hereditary’s plot is Paimon’s preference for male hosts. The demonological texts specify that when Paimon manifests, he requires a proper vessel, and male bodies are preferred. This explains why Charlie was never the intended final destination for the demon””she was merely a temporary container. Ellen, Annie’s mother and the cult’s leader, had Paimon placed into Charlie at birth because Peter was too closely guarded by his skeptical, protective mother. The entire middle section of the film, including Charlie’s gruesome death, serves to transfer Paimon from his imperfect female host to Peter.
- Paimon’s symbol appears throughout the film: on the necklace Ellen wears, carved into the telephone pole that decapitates Charlie, etched on the walls of the Graham home, and on the cult members’ jewelry
- Charlie’s trademark tongue click is actually Paimon’s sound””which Peter begins making after full possession occurs
- The demon’s need for a “healthy male body from his mother’s line” explains why Annie’s brother killed himself, allegedly claiming his mother was “trying to put people inside him”
Ellen’s Role: The Grandmother’s Cult Leadership in Hereditary
Ellen Leigh was not simply a difficult, secretive mother-in-law””she was the high priestess of a cult dedicated to summoning and housing Paimon. The film reveals this through discovered photographs showing Ellen wearing the Paimon symbol, presiding over cult gatherings, and the note Annie finds in her mother’s belongings: “Our sacrifice will pale next to the rewards.” Ellen orchestrated everything, including allowing Paimon to possess her granddaughter Charlie at birth and positioning her own daughter as an unwitting participant in the ritual. Annie’s complicated grief stems from her recognition that something was deeply wrong with her mother, even if she couldn’t identify what.
In her support group confession, Annie reveals that Ellen had a son who hanged himself in her bedroom, leaving a note accusing Ellen of trying to “put people inside him.” Annie’s father starved himself to death. Ellen was estranged from her daughter for years. These aren’t coincidences or evidence of hereditary mental illness””they’re casualties of Ellen’s occult activities, people who resisted or failed as vessels for Paimon.
- Ellen insisted on being close to Charlie and nursing her, which allowed for the initial possession ritual
- The grandmother’s death at the film’s beginning is what activates the final phase of the plan, as her cultists (led by Joan) now guide events toward completion
- Ellen’s decapitated body is found in the Grahams’ attic at the climax, having been dug up and positioned as part of the ritual altar
Charlie Graham: The Tragic Vessel in Hereditary’s Demonic Plot
Charlie Graham’s strange behavior throughout Hereditary’s first act takes on devastating new meaning once the ending reveals her true nature. The clicking sound, the disconnected affect, the disturbing artwork depicting decapitation and fire, and her unsettling relationship with her grandmother were all manifestations of Paimon residing within an unsuitable host. Charlie wasn’t mentally ill or developmentally different””she was never fully herself because a demon had occupied her body since infancy.
The infamous telephone pole scene, where Charlie is decapitated after Peter swerves to avoid a dead deer in the road, initially appears to be a horrific accident resulting from Peter’s impaired judgment after smoking marijuana. However, the Paimon symbol carved into the pole reveals this was a ritual killing arranged by the cult. Joan, the kindly support group member who befriends Annie, is later revealed to be one of Ellen’s closest cultists. The deer, the party, Peter’s impairment””all orchestrated to force the violent separation of head from body, which releases Paimon from his inadequate vessel.
- Charlie’s death serves a dual ritual purpose: it frees Paimon while traumatizing and destabilizing the Graham family, making Peter vulnerable
- The cult needs Charlie’s head for the final altar, which is why it’s later discovered missing from her grave
- Charlie’s drawings throughout the film depict Paimon’s planned hosts and her own decapitation, suggesting some unconscious awareness of her fate
How Does Grief Function as Horror in Hereditary’s Story?
Ari Aster has described Hereditary as a family tragedy that happens to have supernatural elements, and this framing is essential to understanding why the film resonates so powerfully. The horror of Paimon’s plot works because it’s layered over genuine, recognizable human suffering. Annie’s complicated grief over her mother, her guilt about her ambivalent feelings, her terror that she’s inherited mental illness, and her desperate attempts to contact Charlie through a seance are all authentic responses that the cult exploits. The supernatural conspiracy succeeds precisely because it mimics the progression of unprocessed trauma.
Annie’s deteriorating mental state””the sleepwalking, the outbursts, the increasingly erratic behavior””could be grief or could be possession. Her husband Steve’s rational dismissals of supernatural explanations reflect how families often minimize mental health crises. Peter’s withdrawal and guilt after Charlie’s death mirror how teenagers process trauma. The cult, through Joan, provides Annie with answers that feel meaningful: the seance seems to bring Charlie back, giving Annie purpose and hope. This is how predatory organizations recruit grieving people in real life.
- The film suggests that grief makes people vulnerable to manipulation, whether supernatural or mundane
- Annie’s model-building career (creating miniature replicas of her life) reflects her desperate need for control over uncontrollable circumstances
- The hereditary curse works metaphorically too: Annie inherited her mother’s secretive, controlling tendencies just as she inherited her actual occult conspiracy
Visual Symbolism and Foreshadowing Throughout Hereditary
Aster’s filmmaking is extraordinarily dense with visual information that rewards repeated viewing. The Paimon symbol, resembling an angular lowercase letter “p” with a connecting line, appears constantly: on necklaces, walls, telephone poles, trees outside windows, and even briefly in the dirt of Ellen’s grave. These sigils were placed by cultists over years to prepare the Graham home as a ritual space. The symbol literally surrounds the family without their awareness, much as the conspiracy itself does. Light and fire motifs track Paimon’s presence throughout the film.
Charlie stares into flames at the film’s beginning (she was playing with fire before Ellen’s funeral). Annie later describes a dream where she tried to burn her children. At the climax, when Paimon transfers fully to Peter, an orange light visibly enters his body. The cultists hold flames during the coronation. According to demonological texts, Paimon is preceded by spirits bearing torches, which the film adapts into its visual language.
- The treehouse transforms from Charlie’s private space to the cult’s temple, suggesting it was always intended as a ritual site
- Miniature models created by Annie foreshadow events: one depicts the telephone pole scene before it happens
- Decapitation imagery appears constantly before Charlie’s death, including in her drawings and Annie’s work
How to Prepare
- Pay close attention to background information throughout the film, particularly photographs, letters, and objects in the Graham home. Ellen’s photo album contains images of her performing cult rituals. The notes Annie discovers provide explicit information about the cult’s intentions. These aren’t subtle hints””they’re direct exposition that viewers often miss during the intense emotional sequences surrounding them.
- Listen carefully to Joan’s seance instructions, as they describe the exact ritual being performed on Peter. She tells Annie to say specific words that open the door for Paimon’s transfer, and these same words appear in Annie’s notebook later, written compulsively in her sleep. The seance wasn’t communicating with Charlie””it was beginning Peter’s possession.
- Track who is present in each scene, especially in backgrounds. Naked cult members appear in shadows before the climax, visible if you know to look. Joan is present at Ellen’s funeral before meeting Annie at the support group, establishing their relationship as deliberately predatory rather than coincidental.
- Notice Annie’s sleepwalking and unconscious behaviors, which escalate throughout the film. She nearly burns her children while sleepwalking years before the main events. She writes cult invocations without remembering. Her unconscious mind may be more aware of the conspiracy than her conscious self, or she may be partially possessed without knowing it.
- Watch Charlie’s scenes understanding she’s never been fully human. Her first scene shows her witnessing her grandmother’s death without normal emotional response. She sleeps in a treehouse, separate from the family, because something in her isn’t drawn to human connection. Her artwork depicts events before they happen because Paimon possesses knowledge of secret things.
How to Apply This
- Consider how other horror films use family dynamics as vehicles for supernatural terror. The Exorcist, The Shining, and The Babadook all operate similarly, using demonic or supernatural forces as externalized representations of family dysfunction. Hereditary’s innovation is making the literal supernatural plot inseparable from its metaphorical family trauma.
- Research the demonological sources Aster drew from to understand how the film adapts existing occult mythology. The Lesser Key of Solomon is publicly available and provides context for Paimon’s characterization, his relationship to other demons, and the specifics of summoning rituals that appear in the film.
- Apply the same close-reading attention to other Aster films, particularly Midsommar, which uses similar techniques of dense visual foreshadowing and metaphor-as-plot. Both films reward viewers who watch multiple times with attention to background details and symbolic imagery.
- Discuss the film with others who’ve seen it to compare interpretations of ambiguous elements. Some viewers argue Annie was complicit in the conspiracy at an unconscious level, while others see her as entirely victimized. The film supports multiple readings, which makes it generative for conversation and analysis.
Expert Tips
- Watch the film at least twice before attempting comprehensive analysis. First viewing delivers emotional impact, but the plot’s intricacy becomes apparent only when you know where it’s heading and can track the setup for each payoff.
- Use the subtitles to catch dialogue that’s easily missed, particularly Joan’s seance instructions and the cult’s final invocation of Paimon. The words spoken describe exactly what’s happening in literal terms that clarify the supernatural mechanics.
- Research Ari Aster’s influences, especially the films of Peter Weir, Nicolas Roeg, and Roman Polanski. Rosemary’s Baby is the most obvious predecessor to Hereditary, as both involve satanic cults manipulating families to produce demonic offspring. Understanding this lineage contextualizes Aster’s choices.
- Don’t overlook Steve Graham, whose rational skepticism and ultimate fate comment on how families often respond to crisis. His refusal to believe Annie enables the cult’s plan, and his death (burning alive after Annie throws Charlie’s possessed notebook into the fireplace) punishes his resistance to the supernatural truth.
- Consider the film’s title as a statement of theme rather than just a description of hereditary mental illness. What Annie inherits from Ellen is a conspiracy, a curse, a predetermined role in a ritual. The horror of heredity in this film is that children can’t escape what their parents set in motion.
Conclusion
The Hereditary ending explained in full context reveals a film that’s simultaneously a supernatural horror story and a devastating portrait of family dissolution. Paimon’s coronation represents the success of a multi-generational occult conspiracy that treated every member of the Graham family as expendable tools. Ellen sacrificed her son, her husband, her daughter’s wellbeing, her granddaughter’s life, and ultimately her own head to provide a demon with a suitable vessel. The tragedy is that Annie never had a chance””her mother enlisted her in this plot at birth, and every attempt to resist or escape only moved her closer to her predetermined role. What makes Hereditary’s conclusion so disturbing is its totality. The cult wins completely.
Peter is gone, his body now housing a King of Hell. Annie dies as a sacrifice, her decapitated body positioned in worship of the demon that destroyed her family. Charlie was never really Charlie. Even the grandfather who starved himself to death, the uncle who hanged himself””they’re revealed as casualties of the same war, people who saw what was happening and chose death over participation. The film offers no escape, no final-act reversal, no surviving protagonist to carry hope forward. For viewers accustomed to horror films where good triumphs or at least survives, Hereditary’s unflinching commitment to its bleak conclusion makes it genuinely transgressive. The hereditary curse wasn’t a metaphor for mental illness to be overcome””it was a literal inheritance that could never be refused.
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