The Haunting Of Bly Manor has lots of twists and turns, many revealed in the final episodes. In this article I give you the ending of Bly Manor, explained.
The Haunting Of Bly Manor is a ghost story, as well as a love story. There are a lot of twists and turns, just as there are with any good thriller. Some reveal themselves early on, and some come as a complete surprise. If you are looking for The Haunting Of Bly Manor ending to be explained, look no further. In this article I will break down some of things you might have missed, or that were just a bit confusing.
If there is something about The Haunting Of Bly Manor that still has you confused, let me know in the comments and I will do what I can to explain it for you. Enjoy! And warning, massive spoilers ahead for the whole season, as well the ending, of The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Be sure to read my The Haunting Of Bly Manor review.
Warning: MAJOR Spoilers for The Haunting Of Bly Manor.
Dani Is Haunted By Her Dead Fiancé
Dani grew up best friends with Eddie. They became childhood sweethearts and eventually started to plan a wedding. It was clear in flashbacks that Dani wasn’t happy and eventually it is revealed that is because she is a lesbian. She doesn’t love Eddie like that and decided to end it with him.
He is, of course, upset when he hears the news, and stops out of the car to get away. This was bad timing however as a tractor trailer truck was coming down the road. His glasses reflect the light of the headlights and he is hit and killed. This is why Dani fled America, she just needed to get away. Whenever she looks in a mirror, she sees him there, with that reflection in his glasses.
Eddie did not die at Bly Manor so he isn’t really haunting her and stuck there like the other ghosts. It seems Dani is doing this to herself. But once she came to accept that perhaps it was not her fault, she was able to move on. She burned his glasses in the bonfire and he never showed up after that. This also allowed her to start a relationship with Jamie.
Hannah Has Been Dead Since Dani Arrived
I picked up on something being wrong with Hannah almost immediately. She would often stare into space, we would never see her eating in the present (only in flashbacks), and there was that crack she kept seeing all over the house. My mind went back and forth on if she was dead or not, but that was eventually revealed.
One of the times that Peter Quint stepped into Miles’ body, he pushed Hannah into a well. It just so happened to be right as Dani arrived, which I think is part of the reason Hannah didn’t notice it. She also seemed to refuse to accept it. She knew something was wrong but somehow, she was able to keep on going. It wasn’t until Miles — well Peter inside Miles — took her to the well to show her that she realized it.
Peter Quint Killed Rebecca Jessel
After Peter Quint was killed by the Lady of the Lake, he stays on the ground of Bly Manor. Eventually he reveals himself to Rebecca and they try everything they can think of to be together. He can step inside of her but she gets pushed to a happy memory of them, and he gets pushed back to a dreadful memory with his mother.
She invited him in saying “It’s me, it’s you, it’s us.” as he suggests — thinking this will mean they get to be together in a happy memory. When this doesn’t happen, and he is left alone, he cannot stand to be along anymore. He walks Rebecca’s body to the lake and drowns her in it. Actually abandoning her body right at the end, making her feel the death on her own.
Early on in the series there is talks of how ne one could understand how Rebecca could kill herself like that. And they even mention that she hated that lake. But it is because it was Peter, not Rebecca.
Peter Quint Has Been Taking Control Of Miles
Throughout the series, it was obvious that something is wrong with Miles. Sometimes he is a complete sweetheart, and other times he seems evil, rude, and just not right. It turns out that Peter Quint has been stepping into Miles and taking control of his body. He makes him do things that he would never do, and act ways that he would never act.
I figured this out pretty early on because Miles did things like watch Dani undress and ask for alcohol. This made it seem like he was much more adult and grown up, and I had a feeling someone was inside of him, I just wasn’t sure who, or how. The one thing that I didn’t understand is how Peter took control of Miles at school to get him kicked out, if he could never leave the ground of Bly Manor.
Rebecca Jessel Betrays Peter Quint
Peter Quint has been working on a plan to get him and Rebecca back together, as humans, not ghosts. Also a plan that would allow them to leave Bly Manor. It turns out that plan includes them going inside of Flora and Miles, and tucking them away in what they call a “forever house” with their mom and dad. Peter is more into this plan than Rebecca is, which is pretty obvious from the start.
Once Dani discovers the truth, Peter knows they are on a time crunch. He pushes Rebecca to do their plan earlier than anticipated. She goes along with it, but actually tells Flora to pretend. When Miles/Peter leaves to take care of Hannah, Rebecca reveals herself as not inside Flora at all, and they untie Dani. Rebecca tells Dani to take Flora far away from Bly Manor, and never come back. Which she was about to do until she got caught in the path of the Lady of the Lake.
Viola Is The Lady In The Lake
The second to last episode of The Haunting of Bly Manor is spent explaining the story of Viola, and her younger sister, Perdita. Determined to be the lady of the manor, she marries for business purposes mostly. When Viola gets ill, she refuses to die. Because of the nature of her illness she is told not to be around her daughter, husband, or sister much. She sees the way her husband looks at her sister, and does not like it.
She lives for years after her diagnosis, but eventually her sister kills her. Puts her hand over her mouth and suffocates her. Telling herself this is for mercy but that simply isn’t the case. Before her murder, Viola packed away her fancy dresses and jewels, locking them in a chest that is to be given to her daughter when she is of age. Viola’s soul also seems to be locked in that chest. Waiting for the day her daughter will open it.
The day seems to finally come but instead of it being her daughter, it is her sister. Enraged, she murders her sister, just as her sister did to her, and leaves her body in the attic (this is the woman we see in the attic with no face). Viola’s husband discovers this, and decides to leave Bly Manor with his daughter, never to return. But first, they throw the chest in the lake, which is why Viola lives in the lake now.
She sleeps, she forgets, she wakes, she walks… Viola is always looking for her daughter. Her daughter who moved away from Bly Manor long ago. She does this every so often — the same path. From the lake, up to the bed she shared with her daughter, and back down to the lake. If any unfortunate person should cross her bath, she grabs them by the neck and takes them with her. Which is exactly what happened to Peter Quint.
Because of Viola’s strong will to not depart and move on, everyone who dies at Bly Manor stays there. Stays until they fade away as memories, and their faces along with that. Not everyone can see them, but they are there.
Memory Hopping
Unfortunately for them, the also seem to “memory hop”. They go back in time, are tucked away into memories, and forced to relive them over and over. Some are pleasant memories, although really, they know they are in a memory, but Peter Quint always goes to a horrible memory of his mother. It turns out his mother threatened him, and she is the reason he was stealing from Bly Manor. She got him killed, essentially.
As for the children, Flora and Miles, they memory hop when Rebecca or Peter steps into their body. They get tucked away in a memory. It seems they don’t like it very much, but they do it because they think Rebecca and Peter are their friends. Of course they are just innocent children being taken advantage of. At one point, Miles even tells Peter that he is supposed to warn him first.
Dani Allowed Viola To Come Into Her To Save Flora
In order to save Dani, Flora puts herself in Viola’s path. This works and Viola drops Dani, hurt but still alive, and takes Flora. She continues her path back toward the lake. About to walk into the water with Flora, Dani does the only thing she can think of. She repeats “It’s me, it’s you, it’s us.” which is what the kids said when inviting Rebecca and Peter inside of them. It works, and Viola goes inside of Dane.
As soon as she lets Viola in, the ghosts stuck wandering the grounds of Bly disappear. They are finally allowed to move on. This releases Miles from Peter’s grip as well.
In the end, after years of living with Viola inside of her, Dani couldn’t take it anymore. She felt the urge to kill Jamie in her sleep, but she fought it. Dani went back to Bly Manor and drowned herself in the lake. Giving the ultimate sacrifice so that Viola would never kill again.
Jamie Is Telling The Story At Flora’s Wedding
The first episode starts off at a rehearsal dinner for a wedding, and someone telling a ghost story around the fireplace. At the end of the final episode, the narrator is revealed to be Jamie. The bride starts to walk away after the story ends, and mentions that her middle name is Flora.
During the wedding we see glimpses of who everyone was long ago. Sure they are all drown up now, but this is actually Flora’s wedding. Henry is there (and oh by the way, he is her real father which was revealed somewhat early on), Miles is there, and Owen is there.
As Owen talked about with Dani and Jamie earlier in the episode, Flora and Miles had pushed those memories of Bly Manor from their heads. Sure, they remember that they stayed there as children, but they don’t recall the haunting details.
The Dolls Represent Everyone In The House – Dead & Living
This isn’t really explained at the ending of The Haunting of Bly Manor, but it can be assumed. Flora uses the doll house to know where everyone in the house is. It is how she knew that Dani got out of bed that first night. It is also how she knows when the Lady in the Lake is on the hunt.
I hope you enjoyed this article in which I give you The Haunting of Bly Manor ending explained. If I missed something that you are still curious about, please comment below and let’s discuss.
About The Haunting Of Bly Manor
From The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan and producer Trevor Macy comes THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR, the next highly anticipated chapter of The Haunting anthology series, set in 1980s England. After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas) hires a young American nanny (Victoria Pedretti) to care for his orphaned niece and nephew (Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) who reside at Bly Manor with the estate’s chef Owen (Rahul Kohli), groundskeeper Jamie (Amelia Eve) and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (T’Nia Miller). But all is not as it seems at the manor, and centuries of dark secrets of love and loss are waiting to be unearthed in this chilling gothic romance. At Bly Manor, dead doesn’t mean gone.
Producing partners Flanagan and Macy drew from the iconic supernatural stories of Henry James, to create the ensemble drama which also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, and Tahirah Sharif. The series is executive produced by Flanagan and Macy for Intrepid Pictures, along with Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television.
