Queen Of Bones Ending Explained And Full Story: Is Malcolm Dead?

Twin siblings Lily and Sam try their best to uncover dark secrets about their deceased mother in Canadian director Robert Budreau’s folk horror, Queen of Bones. The biggest obstacle in their quest is none other than their own father, Malcolm, played by an always dependable Martin Freeman. Sadly, neither the actor’s performance nor the film is anywhere near great thanks to a severe lack of punch in the screenplay. Despite having your usual, blood-curdling elements of pagan horror, this one falls mainly due to having very little meat on its bones, if you know what I mean. The buildup is still quite strong, but the big reveal is a tad predictable. That said, the ending of Queen of Bones is quite fitting, and that’s what we’re going to talk about in this article.

Spoilers Ahead

What is the movie about? 

Set in the pre-Roosevelt era, meaning around 1931, Queen of Bones centers on this Oregon-based family of three—instrument maker Malcolm (Freeman) and his twin teenage children, Lily and Sam (Julia Butters and Jacob Tremblay, both of whom are quite excellent here), who live near the woods, outside the city of Portland. Malcolm’s wife, Isobel, died years ago—presumably during childbirth or a little after that—and he surprisingly doesn’t talk about her much to Lily and Sam, who are always curious about their mother. Especially Lily, who’s feeling something inexplicably supernatural these days, and she believes it has something to do with her mother. Lily also happens to have inherited her mother’s musical skill. She plays the violin in such a manner that the world completely stops around her, which impresses one of her father’s clients, Mr. Jensen, who suggests Malcolm admit Lily to his music school. However, Malcolm is absolutely against his daughter going there; it seems like the only reason he lets her play is to help him sell the instruments. Sam, meanwhile, is a rebel at heart and dreams of making it out to Portland one day to pursue his interest in automobiles.

Lily’s interest in her mother further peaks when family friend Ida May arrives at their house with a trunk that originally belonged to Isobel. We get to know that Malcolm has had a beef with his wife’s family since forever. They pretty much blame him for taking Isobel away from them and not being able to protect her from whatever ‘evil’ in the woods consumed her. The biggest mystery this movie dangles over us is what exactly happened to Isobel, and the answer to that is more heartbreaking than shocking. Anyway, Ida May also requests Malcolm and the family to attend the funeral of Isobel’s father. She has her own interest in Malcolm as well, considering how she practically asks him to be a father figure to her unusually white-skinned son, George. Much later in the film, she ends up seducing Malcolm, right before the climax.

What does Lily do to find the truth about her mother?

In her mother’s trunk, Lily finds a pagan book with a symbol. There are other things regarding occult practice as well. The handwriting, much similar to Lily’s own, is unmistakably that of her mother. Inside the book, she also finds clear instructions about making a strange potion, which apparently is going to reveal the truth about someone who drinks it. To make the potion, they’re going to need the help of a witch. Upon her sister’s insistence, Sam befriends this boy, Arvin, who promises to take them to a local witch in exchange for Sam doing some bootlegging for them. Lily and Sam also witness their father getting an earful from their grandmother, Lois, at the funeral. Clearly, the bad blood between Malcolm and his in-laws is still very much there. 

When they return home, Malcolm gets mad at Lily when he sees her wearing his dead wife’s shawl. To make his daughter behave, he locks Lily in the basement, claiming he’s only doing it for her good. Sam puts on a facade in front of Malcolm while clearly being on Lily’s side. He sneaks her out at night, and the two venture into the woods. Nothing much comes of that, other than the two coming across a wolf, who doesn’t attack them after Lily shoos it away with a flaming torch. The next morning, Malcolm releases Lily, but his hope of her becoming obedient like before seems to have gone down the drain, with the young girl in no mood to give her father a free pass. That lands her in trouble too, as Ida May suggests Malcolm put her in a convent, and the man jumps on board right away. Seeing her father getting intimate with Ida also makes Lily furious, making her promptly leave, seeking the witch, accompanied by her brother. 

Does Malcolm die in the end?

By the second act, it becomes evident that Malcolm is hiding something terrible (of his own doing) from his children. Back in the woods again, the twins stumble onto a tree, which has the same symbol—that Isobel drew in the book—on its bark. An owl is sitting on a branch of it, and starts responding in a strange way the moment Lily picks up her violin and starts playing. The movie never really explores (or explains) the supernatural aspect to Lily playing music, which I find to be kind of baffling.

Lily and Sam soon find Arvin, who takes them to the witch. Her name is Agnis, and she also happens to be a midwife. In fact, she recognizes Lily and Sam right away and tells them that it was she who delivered them. In fact, Agnis seems to have the umbilical cord stored in a jar—it was a present from Isobel. Once Lily promises to give her a silver coin, the witch proceeds with the preparation of the potion. She hands it over to Lily, who chugs the foul-tasting liquid in no time. Asking Lily to rest for a bit—as her body has to handle the impact of taking the potion—Agnis takes Sam outside for the bootlegging work. Arvin stays back to keep an eye on Lily, but soon, Sam figures out that the guy has bad intentions towards his sister. He quickly returns and takes care of the situation by bashing Arvin’s head in with a bottle. Sam and Lily escape, and as Agnis attempts to stop them, the wolf miraculously appears from somewhere and devours the witch. I have a theory here: the wolf has a bond with Lily and serves the role of a protector for her. 

After their tryst with the witch, all that was left for the twins was to return home and confront their father. But before that, Lily has to take care of Ida May, who has arrived to take her away. So she does exactly that, by spiking her coffee with a mushroom that works as a sedative. With Ida May tamed, Lily and Sam go to Malcolm and finally ask the question—what did he do to their mother? 

Malcolm, still holding onto his dumb pride, blurts out everything—he loved Isobel, but her free-spirited nature was too much for him to handle. He blames it on her getting too close to the ‘evil’ in the woods. Neither Malcolm nor the film itself tries to make much sense of that evil, beyond scratching the surface. That’s where this movie majorly falters, as it doesn’t fully embrace the supernatural, but also doesn’t put everything on the man’s ingrained patriarchy. He does admit to locking up his wife after childbirth and not giving her the medical treatment that she needed when she was sick. That led to Isobel ultimately dying—all lonely and helpless. If this doesn’t make Malcolm her killer, then what does? What frustrates the twins more is how he is still not apologetic for what he did. This is where we see Lily’s supernatural power coming into play—as a rack full of weapons falls on Malcolm, and he gets stabbed with a sharp knife. He instantly dies, which does break Lily and Sam’s heart, but they know for a fact that their father got what he deserved. The title Queen of Bones refers to Isobel, who was buried in the woods, and we can assume the supernatural power of Lily originated from her mother’s vengeful soul. The movie ends with Lily and Sam going away; their first destination is the music school in Portland—the one mentioned earlier in the film. After that, they’ll go along with the wind, whichever way it blows. This is the best possible ending this movie could have, for sure.

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