Does Augustus Landor die at the end of The Pale Blue Eye?

The Pale Blue Eye follows Augutus Landor, a retired veteran who paired up with a fictionalized version of Edgar Allan Poe to solve an intriguing case of serial killings. The mystery definitely keeps us on our toes, especially because of all the speculation of whether or not Landor makes it alive till the end.

So does Landor die in the end? Does he become a victim of serial killings?

Landor does not die at the end of The Pale Blue Eye. After it is revealed that Landor is the serial killer who was trying to avenge his daughter, he returns to the cliff where Mattie died by suicide and finds closure.

Throughout the film, we are been sympathetic to Landor and Poe, who are simply trying to figure out who’s killing their colleagues. We think that the mystery is finally solved when the Marquis family takes the blame for their black magic schemes.

It’s only a little later that Poe realizes that the note’s handwriting matches Landor’s.

Landor finally comes clean: His daughter Mattie was raped by Fry, Ballinger, and Stoddard when she attended her first ball two years ago. The trauma led to her suicide, but Landor kept it a secret, vowing to exact revenge on the men.

When he first lures Fry out with the note, he is able to strangle and hang him but has to run away from the scene when Artemus and Lea Marquis arrive. In their eccentric agency, the siblings steal Fry’s heart for their own schemes. This, however, gives Landor the perfect cover as he continues his next two murders in a way that would frame the Marquis.

Although Poe is now aware of the truth, he does not report Landor to the authority and instead burns the incriminating note. Poe may not approve of Landor’s methods, but he does sympathize with him and lets the Marquis take the fall.

At the end of the film, Landor returns to the cliff—the very place his daughter died by suicide. For a moment it seems like Landor may make the same decision as Mattie, but thankfully, he lets his grief go by letting her ribbon fly in the wind and wishing her to rest in peace.

About The Pale Blue Eye

The Pale Blue Eye is a 2022 American mystery thriller film written and directed by Scott Cooper. The movie is an adaption of Louis Bayard’s 2003 novel of the same name.

Set in the 1830s, it follows Christian Bale’s, Augustus Landor investigating a series of gruesome murders at West Point Military Academy with the assistance of a cadet named Edgar Allan Poe.

The film features an ensemble cast of Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey, Simon Mcburney, Timothy Spall, and Robert Duvall.