Lighthouse Mermaid Vision Explained
In the 2019 movie The Lighthouse, directed by Robert Eggers, the character Ephraim Winslow, played by Robert Pattinson, starts seeing strange things while stuck on a remote island with an old lighthouse keeper. One of the wildest visions is of a mermaid, a mythical sea creature with a woman’s upper body and a fish tail. This isn’t just a random dream. It ties into Winslow’s growing madness from isolation, booze, and the harsh sea life.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids_in_popular_culture
The mermaid shows up a few times. Winslow first spots her on the rocks, singing a haunting tune that pulls him in like a siren’s call from old sailor tales. Later, the vision gets intense. He imagines having sex with her in a surreal, wet scene full of fog and desire. These moments make viewers question if the mermaid is real or all in his head. The film leaves it open, but most see it as a hallucination.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids_in_popular_culture
Why a mermaid? Mermaids pop up a lot in stories about the sea. Sailors long ago told tales of them luring men to their doom, mixing beauty with danger. In The Lighthouse, she stands for Winslow’s deepest urges and fears. He’s a newbie keeper, fighting with the boss Thomas Wake over the lighthouse lamp. The mermaid vision mixes his loneliness, sexual frustration, and pull toward the ocean’s mysteries. It’s like his mind cracking under the weight of forbidden knowledge the light holds.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids_in_popular_culture
The movie draws from real myths too. Think of tales like in Moby-Dick, where crew hear mermaid cries as bad luck signs. Or old folklore where mermaids tempt and destroy. Eggers mixes this with Greek sea gods like Proteus, who Wake claims to serve. The mermaid becomes Winslow’s personal temptress, pushing him toward a breakdown. Her slippery, otherworldly look, with scales and a come-hither stare, amps up the erotic horror.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids_in_popular_culture
Fans debate if it’s a real creature or pure fantasy. Some point to the film’s black-and-white style and tall 1.19:1 ratio, making everything feel trapped and dreamlike. Others link it to lobstermen tales from the area, where locals swear by sea monsters. But the core idea is psychological. Winslow’s visions, including the mermaid, show his guilt over past crimes and obsession with the light’s secrets. By the end, they blur reality and myth completely.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids_in_popular_culture
This vision makes The Lighthouse stand out. It turns a simple ghost story into a deep dive on human limits, using the mermaid as a symbol of the sea’s wild power over lonely souls.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids_in_popular_culture
https://www.newpages.com/blog/books/book-reviews/
https://seattlein2025.org/program-and-events/schedule/
https://www.mptalegacymedia.org/pdfs/2025-report.pdf
https://loveanddeepspace.fandom.com/wiki/World_Underneath
