So What, Exactly, Happened at the Ending of 'The Haunting of Bly Manor'?

Anytime you're dealing with a movie or TV series that deals with the lineage of a particular spot or uncovering a mystery that spans decades or centuries, things can tend to get a bit heady. And The Haunting series of horror shows on Netflix is no exception. The Haunting of Hill House was a smash success for the streaming giant and had both horror fans and appreciators of just well-constructed plots happy. Now, The Haunting of Bly Manor fans have found themselves wanting the ending explained.

You've been warned: The following contains major spoilers for The Haunting of Bly Manor. While it's not a true sequel to The Haunting of Hill House, it does feature a lot of the same actors a la American Horror Story, but it tells an entire narrative that's woven over the course of nine episodes. By the end of the entire saga a few things are made entirely clear. Like the fact that the manor's housekeeper, Hannah Grose, is actually a ghost.

We also discover that both Peter Quint and Rebecca Jessel died and their spirits attempted to inhabit the bodies of both Flora and Miles so they can stay a couple in a physical form. Which is super weird, considering that Miles and Flora are brother and sister. Maybe they're big Games of Thrones fans and thought that what Jaime and Cersei had was sweet? Who knows.

Episode 8 also features a flashback that dishes out a ton of information about the actual haunting of the manor itself, like the fact that Viola Willoughby's the one behind the location's curse. Centuries before our protagonists enter into the equation, Viola was quarantining herself from the rest of her family while suffering from a lung disease. 

Remember the faceless lady in the lake who killed Peter? Yeah, that's Viola and she also tries to drown Flora into the lake before Dani remembers the phrase she heard Rebecca and Peter utter while trying to take over Miles and Flora's bodies: "It's you, it's me, it's us." This causes Viola's spirit to forever be entwined with Dani's own and the curse on Bly Manor is finally lifted.

While it certainly seems like Viola's ghostly machinations have come to an end, everyone living at Bly Manor is probably a little too PTSD-ed to stay there ever again, so they decide to move to Vermont. But even though they're able to leave the place and find some relative peace, Dani is also haunted by the ghostly visage of Viola in the most mundane of places.

It's a constant reminder that her own death could come at a time and place that she least expects it, but it's the sacrifice she made in order to protect Flora. What's interesting is that actress Victoria Pedretti, who played Nell in The Haunting of Hill House, had a similar character arc: She's tied to a fate that she's not able to elude at all; one that looms over her. 

The show wraps up in the year 2007, when we're taken to a wedding where we see a confirmation that Gugino is actually Jamie all grown up at the wedding of Flora. Adult Miles is there, along with Uncle Henry and Owen the cook. It's a scene that some complained was a little too forced as different actors were used to create a "twist" effect.

Some have theorized that the effects of the curse and Dani's destruction of it affected the memories and personalities of those who came into contact with it, but that's a little bit of a stretch. In the final, final scene we see Jamie getting ready for bed at her hotel and she curls up in her bed and just like she's always done, she leaves the door open for Dani in the off chance she'll come back to her.

The last frame is when we see Dani's hand land on Jamie's shoulder, at least, we assume it belongs to Dani. Was it really her hand? Was it the spirit of Dani? Or is it a mental manifestation of Jamie's, proving she's never forgotten her? While the idea of hauntings in both Bly Manor and Hill House is that spirits are anguished and have some unfinished business of a gnarly nature, could it be that Dani's love has broken the spell and she's conquered Viola's bitterness?