Knives Out Real Killer and ending explained (in detail)

The twisting mystery of Rian Johnson's murder Knives out has many surprises, and the Knives out The ending reveals the true tragedy behind the death of famous author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). The film stars Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, a private investigator hired to investigate Harlan's apparent suicide following a birthday party at his home. Throughout the film, Benoit discovers that each member of Harlan's family had a motive for killing him – whether it was covering up a secret affair or securing a stake in his enormous fortune.

Although each of them is guilty of one sin or another, only one of them actually conspired to kill Harlan: his grandson, Hugh Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans). The revelation in Knives out the ending comes from flashbacks and several twists throughout the film's final act. Just as Rian Johnson creates a twisty murder mystery in Knives outhe does the same in his sequel, Glass onion: a mystery with knivesbut the final act full of twists remains the most talked about. As the final act progresses at a rapid pace, things can get confusing

What really happens at the end of Knives Out

The ransom is caught and Marta is innocent

The third act finds Marta visiting Fran, who knows that Ransom is the killer and has a photocopy of Harlan's blood test to prove that he is not innocent. Fran is dying when Marta finds her, and the nurse has obviously been set up by the real killer. Afraid that she is causing more deaths, Marta confesses to accidentally injecting Harlan with morphine in Blanc, and Fran is rushed to the hospital. Marta almost confesses everything to the Thrombey family too, but after seeing the blood test, Blanc realizes that Marta is innocent.

What follows is a classic murder mystery finale, with the now-iconic Benoit Blanc expertly deducing everything that happened during the night of Harlan's death, including Ransom returning home, climbing the trellis, and changing his medication. After everything is laid out in front of him and Marta lies about Fran's survival, Ransom confesses, believing he will fall due to Fran's testimony.

However, it is revealed that Fran died, but Marta recorded the monologue on her cell phone. After a failed attempt to kill Marta, Ransom is taken into custody and Marta takes the keys to the mansion and everything else Harlan owns.

Explanation of Harlan's death in Knives Out

Harlan kills himself to protect Marta

Rian Johnson surprises the audience by showing how Harlan died right at the beginning Knives out. Harlan is getting his nightly medicine from his nurse, Marta (Ana de Armas), when the medicine is dropped. Marta takes the vials, but after giving Harlan the injections, she realizes that she switched the vials and accidentally gave him a lethal dose of morphine. To make matters worse, the antidote is strangely missing from her medicine bag.

Knowing that she would be blamed for his death and that her mother could be deported amid the scandal, Harlan gives Marta careful instructions to be seen leaving the house and return later so that she can come down disguised as Harlan. This would fix the time of his death at a time after Marta's departure.

Before the morphine overdose could kill him, Harlan slit his own throat to make his death look like a suicide rather than an accident.. However, the end of Knives out reveals that his death was no accidents. This was brought about by the actions of Ransom, who conspired to have Marta accidentally kill her grandfather.

Like the rest of his family, Ransom was excluded from Harlan's will, which left everything to Marta. But if Marta appeared to have murdered Harlan, the new will would have been invalidated and the fortune would have been divided among the Thrombey family – including Ransom.

How Harlan Thrombey Died (and Who Killed Him)

Why Ransom Was Still Guilty

The literal answer to the question of Who killed Harlan Thrombey is that he killed himself, cutting his own throat with a knife. The tragedy of his death is that Harlan did not receive any morphine overdose and there was no need for him to kill himself. Ransom planned for Marta to give Harlan the overdose by switching the labels on the medicines in her bag and then stealing the antidote so that her grandfather's life could not be saved.

However, when the medicine was accidentally dropped, the two bottles were switched again, so Marta gave Harlan the correct and safe doses. Throughout the film, Mart feels guilty for believing that he killed Harlan because of his carelessness in not checking the labels on his medicines. Instead, not checking the labels would have saved his life. Marta knew from the consistency of the liquids which medicine was the right one and gave him the right doses by instinct. As Benoit Blanc explains, she got it right, despite Ransom's tampering, because Marta is a good nurse.

Although Harlan's death was technically caused by his own hands, Ransom is undoubtedly to blame in the Knives out end. If he hadn't changed the labels on the medicines, Marta would never have believed that she had accidentally given Harlan an overdose of morphine.and Harlan would never have killed himself to cover it up. But even if Ransom was only guilty of attempted murder against Harlan, he seals his fate by killing Fran to try to cover his tracks.

Ransom's plan and Fran's murder

Ransom's original plan to kill Harlan was changed

Ransom's original plan was simple. On the night of Harlan's death, after leaving in a rage over the change of will, he returned home and climbed the trellis to avoid being seen. He changed the labels on the medicines in Marta's bag and took the antidote for a morphine overdose. He then climbed back down the lattice, but was spotted by Harlan's mother, Greatnanna Wanetta (K Callan). Ransom then returned home during Harlan's funeral, when he knew it would be empty, to return everything in the medicine bag and avoid suspicion.

Ransom anonymously hired Benoit to investigate Harlan's death, believing that Benoit's detective skills would point to Marta as the killer. This plan went wrong in three ways. The first was that Fran (Edi Patterson), the housekeeper, spotted Ransom going through the medicine bag for the second time and realized something was up. The second was that Ransom could not have predicted that the medicine bottles would be knocked over and that Marta would mix them herself.. The third was Harlan's decision to kill himself to ensure Marta wouldn't get into trouble.

After Marta “confessed” to Ransom that she had killed Harlan, Ransom realized that Harlan's murder could be discovered when Harlan's blood tests turned out to be perfectly normal, showing no morphine overdose. The death would be ruled a suicide, Marta would receive Harlan's fortune, and Ransom would receive nothing. To ensure that the blood test results did not clear Marta's name, Ransom set fire to the laboratory where the tests were performed. However, there was another problem: Fran

Fran took the medicine bag from the crime scene and sent Ransom a photocopy of the blood test, revealing that she had her own copy, with the warning: “I KNOW WHAT YOU DID” and instructions to go find her. He sent the note to Marta so that she would believe that she was being threatened with a blood test that proved a morphine overdose. Ransom sent Marta an email telling her to come to the meeting place after the originally designated time. He met Fran first, gave her a fatal overdose of morphine, and set up Marta to find her.

Why Ransom's Plan Failed

Marta's genuine kindness thwarted the rescue

This new plan also went wrong. Fran initially survived the overdose, waking up when Marta found her and saying, “Hugo did this,” Marta misunderstood this as “You did this”, still assuming that the blood test showed a morphine overdose and that Fran was accusing her of killing Harlan. Instead of letting Fran die, Marta called an ambulance to take her to the hospital. She then confessed to Benoit, accepting her fate, and showed him Fran's secret hiding place in the Thrombey mansion, where the copy of the blood test was hidden.

Before Marta could confess to her family, Benoit looked at the blood test and realized that Marta was innocent. THE Knives out the ending then becomes a classic murder mystery accusation scene. Benoit instructs all family members except Ransom to leave the living room and lays out all the clues to Ransom's entire twisted scheme from start to finish.

Marta gets a call from the hospital and triumphantly tells Ransom that Fran survived and will be able to testify. Believing he is doomed anyway, Ransom admits his crimes. Marta reveals that she was recording him, Fran died of an overdose and Marta tricked Ransom into confessing.

Why rescue was the best choice for the killer

The film chose a wise way to provoke and then reveal the truth

When it comes to murder mystery movies, the trick is usually to make the killer reveal a fun surprise, but also something that is plausible and makes sense upon multiple viewings. Knives out does this successfully with Ransom, but takes things a step further. The film makes sure Ransom is unlikable from the start. While this is true of most of his family, he comes across as entitled, petty, and exactly the kind of person a movie would use as a red herring.

Oftentimes, someone like Ransom seems too obvious to be the villain, so audiences may not like him, but they'll also look past him as the killer. It's easy to expect someone more unexpected as the killer, given the nature of the twists and turns in these types of films. When Ransom ends up partnering with Marta, even if it's to benefit himself, the audience lets their guard down a little. The revelation that he really is the killer they were looking for hits harder because of this.

It turns out that the most likable person in the film, Marta, is deceived by the most villainous, as is the audience. This makes it more satisfying when she comes out on top in the end, which means Knives out manages to have one of the best conclusions found within the genre.

The true meaning of the ending of Knives Out

Marta's triumph over the Thrombey family is a satisfying ending

Despite the dark subject matter and tragic nature of Harlan's death, the Knives out the ending has an optimistic outlook. Marta escapes being framed for Harlan's murder and going to prison because, ultimately, she is a good person. She initially tried to cover up how Harlan died less to protect herself and more to protect her family and carry out Harlan's final instructions.

However, she felt guilty about the cover-up and decided she had gone too far when someone got hurt. If Marta had let Fran die and chosen not to confess to Daniel Crag's Benoit Blanc, Ransom would have gotten away with it. Marta's inherent goodness is symbolized by the fact that she cannot lie without vomiting. His humility contrasts sharply with the spoiled and noble Thrombey family.

Knives out takes aim at the idea of ​​privileged white people who consider themselves “self-made” despite relying on inherited wealth and family connections for their success. Walt (Michael Shannon) runs the family publishing company, but was hired by his father. Harlan's daughter-in-law, Joni (Toni Collette), has been exploiting him for years. Meg (Katherine Langford) is apparently progressive and feminist and pretends to be Marta's friend, but with just a little push she is ready to manipulate her.

When the Thrombeys discover that Harlan left his entire fortune to Marta, they are outraged, feeling that something has been stolen from them. However, Harlan's wealth was never theirs to begin with. Harlan chose to leave his fortune to Marta because she was kind to him without having an agenda, and she worked hard all her life for very little reward.

By pitting Marta against the Thrombeys, the Knives out the end challenges the idea of ​​inherited wealth and rights. All Marta needs to do to ruin these plans is to be what she already is: a good nurse and a good person.

How the Knives Out ending was received

Knives Out finds a new way to trick the public

When it comes to crafting a satisfying murder mystery film, the ending and the reveal of the killer are essential. Knives out is considered one of the best murder mystery films ever made, which shows how effective the ending is. One of the elements that makes for a good mystery ending is that it's something the audience understands but didn't see coming.

Modern audiences love trying to solve the mystery themselves and have countless other films in the genre to predict the killer. However, Knives out brilliantly finds a way to keep the audience from guessing by seemingly introducing the killer's identity in the film's first act. Editor marine man43 admitted that the initial ploy worked on them, while also giving an intriguing new take on the genre:

The “reveal” of Marta as the killer so early in the film was intriguing and a cool direction for the genre. I managed to actually disorient myself for a while, when I started thinking that the rest of the film was going to be about her subtly sabotaging the investigation to avoid suspicion.

Taking the audience out of the chase for a killer allowed the truth about Ransom to be more entertaining. If Marta hadn't been revealed as the alleged killer from the beginning, Ransom would have been the most likely suspect. However, when he is suddenly revealed to be the true villain of the story, the clues suddenly fall into place. It's the kind of film audiences can watch over and over again, finding new clues each time.

Watching Benoit Blanc put all the pieces together and uncover the truth is a hugely entertaining moment that helps establish him as one of cinema's best detectives. However, the ending also works very well because of the victory it means for Marta, a character who made mistakes, but proved throughout the film that she was a good person.

How the Mystery of the Glass Onion Compares to Knife Murder

Benoit Blanc's mysteries continue

The first Knives out film and the Glass Onion Both sequels feature a murder mystery where not everything is as it seems in the end, but the approach to these mysteries is very different. The humor in both films is part of this. In Glass Onionthe humor is more exaggerated, allowing the mystery to seem more simplistic than that of Knives out. While audiences are busy paying attention to the larger-than-life performances and jokes, they're missing out on the little details.

Both use the juxtaposition of flashbacks with the present moment. The women at the center of the mysteries appear calm and collected as the truth is slowly revealed to them, but the truth is that none of them are truly calm. Marta vomits every time she tries to lie and is always afraid that her family will pay for her crime.

Glass onion Helen as Andi (Janelle Monáe) runs in panic trying not to be discovered. She manages to do this until the truth is finally revealed, only then allowing herself to explode. This leads to a literal explosion, making Glass onion ending up much higher than that of Knives out.

The mystery and clues presented in Glass Onion are a little more simplified than those in the first Knives out film too. While Knives out has to repeatedly backtrack on its own mystery to give the audience all the pieces, that's not the case with Glass Onion. Regardless, both the Knives out end and the Glass Onion Endings are satisfying conclusions for the main characters and the audience.