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Spoilers for Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. The Creature survives, forgives Victor, and chooses to keep living. Victor dies peacefully after recognizing the harm he caused, while Captain Anderson lets the Creature go and leads his crew home. The final image leaves the Creature alone in the Arctic sunlight—not dead, but facing a life beyond Victor.
What happens at the end of Frankenstein?
After the Creature tells his story aboard Captain Anderson’s icebound ship, Victor is forced to hear how his actions shaped the life of the being he created. The change is not an excuse for Victor’s cruelty; it is a moment in which he finally acknowledges it. Guillermo del Toro described the shift to Netflix as a child telling a parent what the parent did wrong, prompting an epiphany: “That’s right.” (Netflix Tudum)
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The Creature forgives Victor. Jacob Elordi, who plays the Creature, described forgiveness as the point at which the character learns he can “finally be human.” Victor asks to hear his name once more, the Creature says it, and Victor dies peacefully. Their reconciliation gives Victor a final moment of connection, but it does not undo the suffering or losses caused by his choices.
The Creature survives. Anderson allows him to leave in peace, and the Creature frees the ship, the Horisont, from the ice. Anderson tells the crew they are going home. In the final image, the Creature stands with his arms outstretched in the Arctic sunlight, echoing an earlier lesson about the sun. A frozen tear remains on his cheek, but the image is one of continued life. Del Toro told Netflix: “The Creature is alive. Now it’s time for it to live.” (Netflix Tudum)
#1 Best Overall
Why does the Creature forgive Victor?
Forgiveness is the Creature’s choice to release his pursuit of revenge; it is not a claim that Victor’s treatment of him was acceptable or that the damage has disappeared. The Creature has learned about humanity through his encounters with others, and the act of forgiving becomes part of that learning. Elordi’s description of the moment emphasizes this as the Creature’s own moral development, rather than a reward Victor has earned without consequence. (Netflix Tudum)
The film also presents Victor’s failures in the context of inherited pain. He has been harmed by his own father, and his rejection and violence toward the Creature perpetuate that harm. When Victor finally listens, the ending asks whether the cycle can stop—not by erasing the past, but by recognizing it and choosing not to continue the same pattern. Del Toro has framed the story through parenthood and the pain that can pass from fathers to sons. (Netflix Tudum; Netflix Tudum)
Rank #2
- Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)
- Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)
Does the Creature die?
No. The Creature is alive at the end of del Toro’s film. He leaves the ship after Anderson gives him the chance to go, and the sunlit final image confirms that he is beginning a life beyond Victor. Del Toro has described the film as being about “somebody accepting life in the absence of death.” (Netflix Tudum)
How does the film’s ending differ from Mary Shelley’s novel?
The endings reach different conclusions about the Creature’s future. Shelley’s novel ends after Victor dies aboard the Arctic ship; the Creature expresses remorse and says he intends to die on a funeral pyre. Del Toro’s film instead has the Creature forgive Victor, survive, and choose to live. TIME highlights this shift from the novel’s planned self-destruction to the film’s more hopeful conclusion. (TIME)
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Rank #3
| Ending detail | Del Toro’s film | Mary Shelley’s novel |
|---|---|---|
| The Creature’s response to Victor’s death | Forgives Victor before he dies. | Expresses remorse after Victor’s death. |
| The Creature’s fate | Survives and chooses to live. | Intends to immolate himself on a pyre. |
| Closing direction | Anderson releases him; the ship heads home. | The Creature leaves with the stated intention of ending his life. |
The film’s moral emphasis also differs. TIME notes that del Toro’s Creature commits few of the novel’s crimes, while Victor’s actions bring about several of the film’s central losses. That rebalancing makes the final reconciliation less a conventional triumph over a monster than an encounter between a creator and the being he failed to care for. (TIME)
What does the final image mean?
The Creature’s open arms in the sunlight echo the film’s earlier lesson and turn the ending toward possibility. He is no longer defined only by Victor’s rejection or by the pursuit of revenge. The frozen tear preserves the grief of what happened; the sunlight and his survival point toward a future that remains his to live. Del Toro has said he wanted to make Shelley’s creation his own and “sing it back in a different key with a different emotion.” (Netflix Tudum)
Rank #4
Where can you watch the film?
Netflix’s official ending explainer lists the film as streaming on Netflix. Availability can vary by territory. The Associated Press reported a limited theatrical release planned for October 17, 2025, followed by Netflix streaming on November 7, 2025. (Netflix Tudum; Associated Press)
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