The 8th Night Ending Explained: Will the Virgin Shaman's truth kill Chang-seok or monk Seohwa
The 8th Night, released on Netflix on July 2nd, is a Korean movie that begins on an intriguing note: a monster keen to open the gates to hell.
The monster's two eyes, symbolizing the anxiety of humans and hatred, need to come together to open the gates. However, it was believed that Buddha managed to capture the eye that symbolized hate and bury it in a box in The 8th Night.
The other eye, which initially escaped, took over the bodies of 7 humans, one night after another. On the 8th night, if the eye had succeeded, it could have accomplished what the monster needed to.
Instead, assuming that it had gained all powers, this eye returned only to be captured by Buddha as well.
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How was the eye of anxiety reawakened in The 8th Night?
This eye was buried in the west, in a desert. All of this initially sounded like a tale from a long time ago in The 8th Night. However, history is repeating, and the 8th Night is about what happens when the monster is reawakened. The monster found a helper, who was labeled a fake historian.
This man set up a group under the guise of meditation. He also ensured that everyone who claimed he was fake would learn about how he was right. He used the blood in of carefully selected people to reawaken the eye of anxiety in The 8th Night.
Who can stop the monster in The 8th Night?
The only one who can stop this monster is monk Seohwa (Lee Sung-min), but he was seen fighting his own ghosts, literally. It turned out that souls haunted him hoping to get his help for their ascension in The 8th Night.
However, after an incident in the past related to the woman who killed his family, monk Seonhwa left his monastery, and the job of guarding the second box fell upon the senior monk. Just a day after the eye of anxiety awakened, this monk died in The 8th Night.
So the responsibility fell again upon Seohwa, or that is what everyone, including the senior monk believed in The 8th Night.
The seventh human was supposed to be a virgin shaman in The 8th Night.
How is Kim Yoo-jung's Ae-ran related to virgin shaman in The 8th Night?
The first time Kim Yoo-jung appeared in the film was when rookie monk Chang-seok (Nam Da-reum) left the monastery to search for monk Seohwa in the city. He took the stone casket that had the second eye along with him.
However, in the bustand, he lost his bag and along with it, the casket. Kim Yoo-jung appeared for the first time in the bus stand. She disappeared within moments, hinting that she was not a typical human.
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This led to the audience falsely believe that she was the shaman, the 7th host. In the end, it was revealed that she was not the virgin shaman after all.
Why was this girl at the virgin shaman's home in The 8th Night?
This girl (Kim Yoo-jung) turned out to be a ghost. She led Chang-seok into believing that she was the shaman. When Chang-seok heard from monk Seohwa that the only way to stop the monster was to kill the shaman, Chang-seok ended up fleeing with her.
He takes her to the monastery, or that is what he believed. Seohwa found out where Chang-seok was headed was also where the monster was, and he decided to go to the monastery too and plan a trap.
So when the monster successfully possessed its final host, the only thing left to do was to possess the stone casket's guardian.
Why did Seohwa's trap backfire in The 8th Night?
Even as Seohwa continued to speak incantations to capture the monster, he was told that the person who could stop him really was the guardian of the casket. This was none other than Chang-seok. So, the monster used the ghost girl to trap Chang-seok.
The real virgin shaman revealed that the girl was adopted by the historian and was later sacrificed to awaken the eye of anxiety. She also ensured that the shaman was always under their control and helped to find a different seventh host in return.
Once the girl identified as Ae-ran succeeded, the monster did his best to possess Chang-seok. However, Seohwa didn't let the failure of the trap get under his skin. Instead he continued to hinder the monster.
However, a detective who had from the beginning mistakenly believed Seohwa was the one behind the recent deaths of members of the meditation circle became an obstacle. The final host was his partner. So when he saw Seohwa trying to attack his partner, the detective shot him. The monster, however, throws the detective away and ends up following Chang-seok.
Just when the monster is about to possess Chang-seok, Seohwa did throw his ax, but to no avail. Chang-seok was possessed in the end.
Did Chang-seok die after being possessed by the monster in The 8th Night?
Chang-seok, once possessed, tried to get Seohwa to kill him. This way, Seohwa would have had to live with the guilt his entire life. Instead, Seohwa intelligently draws an incantation on monster-possessed Chang-seok's face.
Through this, he ended up inviting the monster within himself. He then got Chang-seok to use the axe to banish the monster once and for all. So in the end, it is not Chang-seok who died, but the monster. Chang-seok also succeeded in burying the eye of anxiety where it was found in The 8th Night.
He also found Ae-ran chained in the desert, and he helped her break free of the chain. Seohwa's sacrifice is what had been fated in The 8th Night.
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Gautham Balaji