His life, death and afterlife explained

The following contains spoilers for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, currently playing in theatersBeetlejuice Beetlejuice Reveals the origins of Betelgeuse and how he died, revealing the lore of the universe and explaining his proud anti-social personality. Played by Michael Keaton in the original film and inspiring everything from an animated show to a Broadway musical, Betelgeuse was an equally iconic horror/comedy fusion. The undead exterminator who is committed to helping ghosts evict people from their homes, Betelgeuse is actually a relatively minor presence in the original film compared to the movie’s focus on the Deetz and Maitlands. This left many subtle mysteries about the character, including the character’s origins.

This aspect of the character ends up playing an important role in the plot and ending of Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceWith the history of the character come back to haunt him in a very literal sense. Over the course of the film, Betelgeuse delves into his mortal destiny and reveals what happened to him centuries before the modern day. The revelations also quietly do a lot of work explaining the titular character of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice And why he acts the way he does, further justify his hearty approach to life by revealing how it stems from the brutal conditions of his life and death.

Who Beetlejuice was when he was alive and when he lived

Betelgeuse’s origins take Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Back to the 14th century

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Reveals more about Betelgeuse’s origins, including his fate on the mortal plane and how he came to the afterlife. After discovering that his ex-wife Delores has reassembled and is on the hunt for him, Betelgeuse recounts the specifics of his life and death to his employees in his thriving exorcism business. It turns out Betelgeuse was alive in the 14th century And apparently born in Italy, given his shift in Italian for the story. It turns out that Betelgeuse was a survivor of the Black Death, a disease that ravaged Europe and killed millions of people.

While others struggled to survive or worked to protect others, Betelgeze was content in his life as a rough robberDigging through the piles of bodies that were used to contain the people dead on the land. This actually highlights a good reason why Betelgeuse is so antagonistic to others, as his morality was defined in an era where almost half of all people died from the disease. Death was common, and he probably lacked connections. Surviving in those times required Betelgeuse to be heartless, with no respect for the dead or anyone else he came in contact with.

Beetlejuice’s marriage to Delores explained

Delores and Betelgeuse are in love among the Black Plague

Beetlejuice It is implied that Betelgeuse was married at some point in his life, with the undead figure even pulling the ring (and finger) off a former wife while trying to marry a teenage Lydia. This backstory tease ends up inspiring a major element of Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceAs Betelgeuse’s ex-wife Delores is a major threat to him throughout the film. In the extended flashback to the origins of Betelgeuse, the serious robbery of Betelgeuse is revealed. ends up introducing him to Deloreswho stood in the fields of the dead in the same era, when she met the great grave robber.

Delores and Betelgeuse were initially drawn to each other by animal magnetism, an attraction Betelgeuse fully embraced. Seemingly richer than her new husband, Delores and Betelgeuse went through a seemingly supernatural wedding ceremony where a goat was sacrificed and chickens were killed to celebrate their union. This plays into the revelation that Delores is actually the leader of a cult that sought to uncover the secrets of immortality. The wedding is a dark gothic affairwhich Betelgeuse embraced. Although Betelgeuse thought the marriage was legitimate, the film reveals that Delores actually has a deadly ulterior motive behind wanting to marry Betelgeuse.

How Beetlejuice died and when it happened

Betelgeuse’s wedding night was short

What should have been the beginning of Betelgeuse’s life with Delores actually ends up being the last night of his life, as the character’s flashback reveals that his new wife has darker plans for him. As the leader of the cult, Delores married Betelgeuse specifically to sacrifice him in a bid to gain new supernatural power. After spending the night together, Delores tricks Betelgeuse into drinking poison instead of wine. Although his actual death is not shown on screen, This confirms how Betelgeuse died. This gives the film new explanations for the often toxic-looking liquids that often seep out of his body.

It also justifies his suit by revealing that he was well dressed when he died. However, Delores’ overconfidence got the better of her, as the flashback reveals that she taunted her husband with the truth. Because the poison was slow acting enough, this gave Betelgeuse the opportunity to take revenge by grabbing an ax and butchering Delores. chop you into pieces, Betelgeuse accidentally bought himself hundreds of years away from her In the afterlife, as she arrived in pieces and was kept in separate crates for hundreds of years until a lucky release from her, allowing her to rejoin her body and chase him.

Why Beetlejuice became a civil servant in the afterlife

One of the most consistent fates in the afterlife involves working in a bureaucracy

The audience of Beetlejuice is a uniquely weird but strangely grounded place. While some souls are ushered onto the soul train to reach the great beyond, others are trapped on Earth as ghosts unless they can find a loophole to move on (which Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Reveals was the final fate of the Maitlands from the previous film). For everyone else, it appears that The spirits of the deceased are tasked with performing jobs in the civil service bureaucracy Who runs the afterlife. For Betelgeuse, this meant becoming an “exterminator” who could help capture living people from their habitat.

Beetlejuice Betelgeuse began to take this work too seriously and with a dangerous pleasure, forcing him to open an “independent” business. This makes him uniquely dangerous and with few rules. Betelgeuse was clearly expanding by the time of Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceWith a staff of shrunken heads, like Bob. Civil service seems to be the fate of anyone who can’t move on but isn’t trapped on earth, as other characters (like Lydia’s ex Richard) share similar fates. Betelgeuse’s rejection of everyone else makes more sense after the revelations of his origins, underscoring why he would so happily embrace the chaos of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.