Gretel & Hansel Ending Explained (2025)

Warning! Spoilers for Gretel & Hansel below.

Oz Perkins' is as gorgeous as it is strange, putting an even darker twist on a 200 year fairy tale. This is the third film from the director, following 2015's The Blackcoat's Daughterand 2016's I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House.The slow-burner starsSophia Lillis as Gretel, Sammy Leakey as Hansel, and Alice Krige as Holda/The Witch.

As withPerkins' previous two films,Gretel & Hansel drips with atmosphere. There's a brilliant use of color throughout, showing that every scene was shot with a specific look in mind. It creeps with an ominous dread that can feel like molasses at times, but it's hard not to admire the world that's been created. It's a haunting art piece that makes audiences feel like they're inside a fairy tale.

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The is fairly similar to the original story.Two siblings are lost in the woodsand stumble upon a house that smells of delicious food. Within the house is a feast and an old woman named Holda with black fingers and teeth, who invites the children to stay and eat. Of course, Holda is actually a child-eating witch with her own plans for Gretel and Hansel.

What Happens In Gretel & Hansel’s Ending

Gretel & Hansel Ending Explained (1)

After failing to poison her, Gretel is taken down to the room below the house and Holda's plan is revealed. To allow her powers to grow, the witch intends on cooking and feeding Hansel to Gretel.She's thenrestrainedto a dinner table and forced to bear witness to her brother's demise. The witch makes Hansel begin climbing a ladder with a cage at the top, where he will be roasted alive on the fire pit. Gretel then uses her newly-acquired psychokinetic abilities to makeHolda's wooden staff fly through the air and pin herabove the fire pit, where she is burned to death.This frees Hansel from his trance-like state.

With the witch dead and her new powers, Gretel charms a horse and sends Hansel back home with a bag full of precious stones and jewelry. She intends to stay at the cabin to use Holda's books to grow her powers for theforces of good. She later goes to the woods surrounding the cabin where she sees the souls of the children the witch had killed and frees them. However, right after this, Gretel's fingers turn black, just like Holda's. The mark of evil tells Gretel her choice to use her powers solely for good may be harder than she expects.

Will Gretel Become The New Evil Witch?

Despite her intentions to develop her powers for good, Gretel will have to face her innate, evil impulses that come with these abilities. At a time where she is coming into her own and becoming a woman, she must find her own path, making this just as much of a coming-of-age film for the character as it is a horror film for everyone else.Indeed, she could end up a child-eater likethe evil witchif she doesn't keep her dark side in check. One only needs to look at how Holda herself came to be the evil creature she was.We discover that Holda ate two of her children to become more powerful, but not before being wooed herself by a tempting darkness. She was a good woman who ultimately succumbed to evil, and this power struggle is something that Gretel will inevitably struggle with.

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The possibility of a continuation of Gretel's story isn't completely out of the question, either. In a podcast interview with The Boo Crew, Oz Perkins says that the idea was to create a fairytale universe -- a place that multiple tales could share the same world. Most notably, he said, "The idea is that Gretel could certainly go forth from this movie and get into more trouble.” It's clear thatPerkins is invested in the story and has a vision for more if warranted.

Gretel & Hansel Is About Receiving Gifts

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The overarching theme of the film that's mentioned more than once refers to gifts. Or, receiving gifts. What Holda wants out of the children is questioned when she allows them to stay at her cabin and eat as much food as they want.The face Gretel leaves the audience with when her fingers grow black also echo thatno gift is really free. The lesson here is an easy one. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. There's always a catch.

The film's own fairy talewithin the fairy tale setsup the potential consequences of receiving a gift at the very beginning, and intentionally so. A desperate family, which is later revealed to be Holda's, goes to an enchantress to heal their ill child. The enchantress takes the illness from the child, but replaces it with a seed of darkness in the form of a magical gift.Ultimately, the cost of the gift was far worse than any illness that afflicted the child, and was the reason Holda turned into the evil witch she eventually became inGretel & Hansel.

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Key Release Dates

  • Hansel and GretelRelease Date:2020-01-31
Gretel & Hansel Ending Explained (2025)

FAQs

Gretel & Hansel Ending Explained? ›

The film ends with Gretel and Hansel going their separate ways. While Gretel can not bring herself to kill or devour Hansel, she admits the witch

the witch
The Witch (stylized as The VVitch, and subtitled A New-England Folktale) is a 2015 folk horror film written and directed by Robert Eggers in his feature directorial debut.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › The_Witch_(2015_film)
was right about him holding her back. They both needed to find their own stories. Hansel rides off, while Gretel remains, taking up new inhabitance in the witch's home.

What does the ending of Gretel and Hansel mean? ›

Ultimately, Gretel takes over Holda's old home. She decides that Holda was right about one thing: Hansel is standing in the way of her destiny. She sends her brother on his way while retreating into the woods to learn more about her gifts. More from Horror Movies.

Why did Gretel's hands turn black at the end? ›

She later goes to the woods surrounding the cabin where she sees the souls of the children the witch had killed and frees them. However, right after this, Gretel's fingers turn black, just like Holda's. The mark of evil tells Gretel her choice to use her powers solely for good may be harder than she expects.

What happens to the witch at the end of Hansel and Gretel? ›

The witch sticks her head into the oven to show Gretel, and Gretel shoves her inside and latches the door. The witch burns to death, and Gretel rescues Hansel. The children gather the witch's treasure, and set out for home.

Does Hansel and Gretel have a good ending? ›

At the end of the 200-year-old Grimm fairy tale, Gretel traps the cannibalistic witch in her own oven, allowing her to escape with her brother Hansel and the witch's priceless stones. The kids return home rich and live happily ever after. The end.

What is the original ending of Hansel and Gretel? ›

The witch, who has cannibalistic intentions, intends to fatten Hansel before eventually eating him. However, Gretel saves her brother by pushing the witch into her own oven, killing her, and escaping with the witch's treasure.

What is the hidden message in Hansel and Gretel? ›

Never give up hope – From the moment they find out they are going to be left in the woods, Hansel (and later Gretel) never give up the hope that they will find their way home. Even when faced with one difficult or near impossible situation after another, they both stayed focused on the goal of getting home.

Why did they cut off Hansel and Gretel's head? ›

Johannes says the king must cut off the heads of his children and smear a statue with blood in order to bring Johannes back to life. The king complies. The baker woman ate her own children. She decided they tasted so good that she would spend her life fattening up other children to eat.

What do the black fingers mean in Gretel and Hansel? ›

However, as she looks down, her fingers turn black just like the witch's, which is a mark of evil in her veins. Gretel was warned all witches have this darkness inside them, it's a matter of who gives in; reminding us, again, of the debacle Rey faced with the Light and Dark sides of the Force.

What actually happened in Hansel and Gretel? ›

A witch who lives in the gingerbread house enslaves Gretel and forces her to feed Hansel so that he may grow big for the witch to eat. The children trick the witch and shove her into her own oven before she can eat Hansel. They return home, and their mother dies shortly after.

What is the conclusion of Hansel and Gretel? ›

After being captured by the witch, Hansel and Gretel outsmart her. They push her into the oven, escape, and return home to their father, who has regretted his actions. The family is reunited, and they live happily ever after.

What is the moral of the story Hansel and Gretel? ›

What is the moral of Hansel and Gretel? Children may learn numerous things from this tale. The most important thing to learn is to never trust strangers, even if they treat you well.

What does the Hansel and Gretel symbolize? ›

''Hansel and Gretel'' symbolizes how people will be either rewarded or punished based on whether they are greedy and selfish, or if they are kind and care for others rather than just themselves. In the story, both the witch and the mother die, because they both are willing to sacrifice children to feed themselves.

Who is the real villain in Hansel and Gretel? ›

The witch in Hansel and Gretel lives in a candy house. She uses this to lure the children inside and eventually eat them. She intends to eat Hansel, but she is unsuccessful. She is malicious and evil.

Who dropped breadcrumbs in Hansel and Gretel? ›

However, clever Hansel has left a trail of breadcrumbs to show their return path. While the story inspires the term “breadcrumb navigation”, it also provides a metaphor of Web usage that is much stronger than many designers realise (see footnote).

Why did Hansel and Gretel's dad abandon them? ›

They lose their mother to death and a stepmother replaces her. In this story, there is no reason to abandon the children except that the stepmother doesn't want them around. The father is the one who has the idea to abandon the kids, in hopes of pleasing his new wife.

What is the overall message of Hansel and Gretel? ›

What is the moral of Hansel and Gretel? Children may learn numerous things from this tale. The most important thing to learn is to never trust strangers, even if they treat you well. The witch discovers the kindness of the old woman.

What does the story of Hansel and Gretel symbolize? ›

''Hansel and Gretel'' symbolizes how people will be either rewarded or punished based on whether they are greedy and selfish, or if they are kind and care for others rather than just themselves. In the story, both the witch and the mother die, because they both are willing to sacrifice children to feed themselves.

What is the outcome of Hansel and Gretel? ›

A witch who lives in the gingerbread house enslaves Gretel and forces her to feed Hansel so that he may grow big for the witch to eat. The children trick the witch and shove her into her own oven before she can eat Hansel. They return home, and their mother dies shortly after.

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