The Terror Series Finale & Tuunbaq Explained

Tuunbaq's Death

Tuunbaq is already sick when it arrives on the scene. In a previous episode, The Terror's Ice Master, Thomas Blanky, revealed that his amputated leg had become gangrenous - a death sentence. He decided to sacrifice himself to give the others a chance to escape the beast, and tied cutlery all over his body so that when Tuunbaq swallowed him its insides would be torn up. The creature came upon Blanky shortly after he discovered the Northwest Passage - the entire purpose of the expedition.

When Tuunbaq tries to eat the upper half of Hickey's body, the chain is already lodged in its throat and it starts to choke. It is already dying from eating crew members that were sick from the tainted tins, from the damage caused when it ate Blanky, and most recently from eating the men who were poisoned by eating Goodsir's body. It doesn't take much more to finish it off. Crozier tugs viciously on the other end of the chain, causing Tuunbaq further internal damage. Finally it collapses, vomits, and dies - a symbol of the damage caused by the invading British explorers' attempts to tame its lands.

Though the creature has dogged the crew's footsteps throughout the series, The Terror shied away from blunt exposition of its true nature. Simmons based the monster on the Inuit myths of the tuurngaq, collectively known as tuurngait - spirits that can be either helpful or harmful. Tuunbaq can be connected to Inuit shamans through the ritual that Hickey tried and failed to execute, which involves a person cutting out their tongue and Tuunbaq eating it. This then allows the shaman a measure of control over Tuunbaq. Lady Silence's father was one of the shamans connected to Tuunbaq, which is why the creature began slaughtering the crew after they accidentally killed him. Ultimately, however, the vendetta against the expedition ended up killing Tuunbaq as well.

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Lady Silence's Departure

Lady Silence is traveling through the tundra with one of the other shamans connected to Tuunbaq, looking for the creature, when the shaman senses that Tuunbaq has died. Resignedly, the shaman turns back, but Silence decides to keep searching. She passes by a crew member who ran away when Tuunbaq arrived, but ignores his pleas for help and leaves him to die. She finds Crozier and Tuunbaq, and spends a moment mourning the great spirit, spilling the last drops of water from her waterskin onto its tongue.

After discovering realizing that Crozier's wrist cannot be freed from the chain, Lady Silence cuts his hand off and then takes him away, setting up a camp and tending to his wounds. Crozier insists that they go looking for his men, and they travel across the tundra in search of them. Sadly, there is not much to find: camp after camp filled with dead bodies, with the final camp revealing that the men eventually gave in to cannibalism. The only man left alive is Edward Little, the officer who tried to get the men to rescue Crozier. His face is adorned with piercings and golden chains - a detail based on the real-life discovery of a Franklin expedition officer whose body was similarly adorned. Little dies shortly after Crozier arrives.

Lady Silence and Crozier return to the Inuit camp. Crozier learns from their leader that Lady Silence's real name is Silna. We see her leaving in the early hours of the morning, and when Crozier emerges from his tent later in the day he discovers that she is gone. He asks the Inuit leader where she is, and is told, "She lost Tuunbaq. Alone is the way for her now." Crozier asks why, and is told, "That's the way. Everyone accepts this." Crozier wants to go after her, but no one will tell him which direction she left in. Ultimately, he has to accept that she is gone.

Crozier's Fate

Crozier is asked where he wants to go, but cannot find an answer. He is told that he can stay with the Inuit through winter, and decide what he wants to do in spring. In the end, he elects to stay with the tribe. In September 1850, two men from the rescue party searching for Terror and Erebus arrive at the camp - as they did in the series premiere. Crozier pulls up his hood, and tells the Inuit leader to tell the rescuers that he is dead, along with everyone else onboard the ships, that the ships are gone, and that the Northwest Passage does not exist.

Afterwards, Crozier heads out onto the ice with some of the other Inuit. The series ends with a shot of him poised by a fishing hole with a spear, an Inuk child asleep at his side. After everything that Crozier has been through and burdened with the guilt of losing his men, he cannot bring himself to return to England. The novel ends on a similar note, except that Tuunbaq doesn't die and Crozier decides to leave with Lady Silence rather than staying with the rest of the Inuit.

What did you think of The Terror's series finale? Let us know in the comments!