1899 Season 1 Ending Explained: We Were All Duped

When 1899 was announced, we knew that it was going to be a mystery series that should provide a ton of twists and turns along the way. After all, it came from the minds of Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, who were known for the exceptional brilliance of Netflix’s Dark. In that regard, 1899 is their newest story, as it delivers a similar experience in an entirely different series that has its own storyline and weird universe.

Then again, the thing about 1899 is that it was more than what it showed us right off the bat, as there were too many twists that we couldn’t seem to keep up with all of them. But the point is that the final few episodes of season 1 of the series allowed us to understand more about what this story is all about and what was happening to the characters involved in it. So, with that said, let’s take a look at the ending of season 1 of 1899 so that it would be easier for you to understand. 

What Is 1899 About?

Based on what was announced about 1899 and what we saw from the teasers and posters before it was released, it did appear like it was a series that focused more on the mysterious events that were happening to the passengers of a ship bound for America after it had left Europe. But the fact that we knew that this series was created by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar meant that it was expected for it to have a lot of twists and mysteries behind it.

The initial plot introduces the passengers that are on their way to America while on board a steamer ship called the Kerberos. Things started normally at first, but the events started to become weird after the crew got a message from a missing ship called the Prometheus. Wishing to know what had happened to the ship that had been missing for four months, Captain Eyk decided to steer the ship toward the Prometheus. And after they got to the Prometheus and retrieved one single survivor in the form of a young boy with a pyramid in his hands, that was when things became strange.

At first, the strange things could be the work of the Bermuda Triangle or some other supernatural phenomenon that is happening out there at sea. But the thing is that we were all duped from the very beginning because of how the mystery was greater than we expected it to be.

Of course, we already knew that this series was going to have a lot of twists and mysteries behind it, but the first few episodes of 1899 made us think that this was the usual drama mystery series that is set during the end of the 19^th century as the new century was about to come. We also knew that each of the passengers on the ships had a reason for wanting to leave Europe in a hurry, as it was clear that almost all of them had dark pasts that they wanted to leave behind in the Old World.

But passengers started to die one by one in what seemed to be a mysterious phenomenon that none of the crew could understand. Meanwhile, Eyk and Maura decided to investigate the Prometheus further to get to the bottom of what had been happening and what had happened to the ship during the time that it had gone missing. And while they were away from the Kerberos, a mutiny occurred as religious zealots and angry passengers wanted to take the mysterious boy, who they thought was the one responsible for all of the deaths and the mysterious things that were happening.

Things became weirder when the boy displayed the ability of the pyramid that he had in his hands, as it was capable of controlling time itself such that it could pause the events that were happening. Meanwhile, both Maura and Eyk discovered a hidden part of the ship that led to an entirely new place that was physically incapable of fitting inside the steamship. That was when it became clear that things weren’t exactly what they were in 1899.

What EXACTLY Is 1899 About?

As the series went on, Maura was intent on finding her father because she believed that he could be the one that could provide them with the answers they needed. Of course, she didn’t have the memories of her past with her, and that made things more difficult for her as she was trying to make sense of what was happening to them.

That was when they ran into Daniel, who was actually someone closer to Maura than she thought. He revealed that he was actually her husband of 12 years. The problem was that Maura couldn’t remember a thing, as Daniel tried to help her make sense of what was happening.

It was revealed that Maura’s father had been observing her from a remote area and that he wanted both the pyramid and the key that was in Maura’s possession the entire time. And the reason why they wanted the key is due to the fact that it was what could help a person get out of this world, which was revealed to be simply a simulation that wasn’t real.

Yes, everything that had been happening in 1899 wasn’t real because they were just products of a grand simulation that involved all of the real-life counterparts of the passengers on board the Kerberos. Only a handful of people, such as Maura’s father, Daniel, and the boy named Elliot, who was actually Maura’s son, knew the truth of what was happening. And Maura, who didn’t have any memories of what was happening, could not believe it.

It was also revealed by Daniel that they had been stuck in an endless loop for so long because every single time the loop repeats, the same events happen. As such, the simulation goes back to the very beginning, and that explains what happened to the Prometheus ship, which was quite possibly the venue of an earlier loop that involved the passengers of the Kerberos.

In short, everything that the passengers were experiencing was part of a controlled simulation that had been repeated on a loop because the outcome was always the same, no matter what happened. But things changed in that final loop because that was when Daniel was finally successful in his mission of getting his wife out of that loop.

What Happened In The Ending?

In the final episode, Maura’s father is finally able to get the pyramid and Maura’s son Elliot, who he had won over, to his side by telling him that his own mother had him trapped in that endless simulation that had everyone trapped. It was revealed that Maura was the Creator of the simulation, as that was something that she couldn’t even remember. But her father did tell her that this simulation was created by none other than Maura and Daniel. And that could mean that they were the ones responsible for trapping everyone in an endless loop that took place in 1899.

Maura’s father thought that he was now successful at escaping the simulation because he now had the pyramid and the key. Meanwhile, he used a syringed that he injected into the Creator so that the entire simulation would repeat once more as Maura is doomed to stay trapped in an imaginary and fictional world for all eternity. However, Maura’s father failed because Daniel was able to change the code of the simulation in a way that made the pyramid and the key useless.

So, when the simulation reset, it transported Maura and Daniel to the first simulation that they created instead of bringing her back all the way to the very beginning of the 1899 storyline. And that was when Daniel revealed that there was a new pyramid and a new key that could get Maura out of the simulation.

Daniel revealed that Maura’s brother was the one who had taken over the entire program in the real world and that the only way to get everyone out of the simulation was for her to exit it and then stop her brother from the outside. As such, she used the key on the pyramid and was finally able to escape this seemingly endless loop.

That was when Maura finally woke up from the simulation and was able to see that all of the other passengers of the Kerberos were asleep in pods that trapped them in the simulation. And when she looked out the window, she was surprised to see that she was on a ship but an entirely different one.

Instead, Maura was inside a spaceship that was quite possibly traveling from Earth to a new planet in the hopes of repopulating that planet. As such, the passengers were quite possibly the ones chosen to go on a mission to save humanity by going to a new planet. And it is possible that this simulation was created to make sure that the human mind was still working and that the people could still live their lives within their minds while the spaceship was on its way to a distant planet.

Maura looked at the console at the center of the room, as she read her brother’s message that welcomed her back to the real world. The entire series was actually happening in 2099 instead of 1899. Nevertheless, she still seemed a bit clueless as to what was happening, as it is possible that Maura’s memories were still messed up due to the endless loop that she experienced while she was stuck in the simulated world.

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