The Ending Of Monster Hunter: Legends Of The Guild Explained

"Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild" is an animated film from Netflix that establishes a new set of heroes in the "Monster Hunter" world and delivers an action-packed origin story for its main character, Aiden (voiced by Dante Basco). The franchise, which was revived by the well-received "Monster Hunter: World," one of the best games of 2018, pits colorful monsters against professional guild hunters, and the movie delivers plenty of that from start to finish.

The main narrative of "Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild" is bookended by a conversation that Aiden has with his fellow hunters as they travel by ship, following a deadly volcanic elder dragon, Zorah Magdaros. While the less experienced hunters look forward to the coming encounter, Aiden hangs back and finally shares his experience fighting an elder dragon as a young man. This begins a flashback that introduces viewers to his mentor Julius (Brando Eaton) and the other hunters that helped start his journey to becoming a hunter.

The tale that Aiden shares with his shipmates and viewers has its highs and lows, as the heroes triumph over the dragon but are forced to make heavy sacrifices to do so. While "Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild" tells a fairly straightforward story, a lot happens in the movie's brisk hour-long runtime. Here is the ending of "Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild" explained.

Throughout "Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild," one running theme is the importance of balance between nature and civilization, which Julius explains to Aiden when the pair first meet. As Julius prepares to bring a slain Velocidrome back to the village, he tells his future apprentice, "One does not take a monster's life lightly. To do so would betray the balance of nature. A hunter has an obligation to see its sacrifice does not go to waste."

Aiden takes this early lesson to heart and calls upon it when the team faces its seemingly unwinnable battle against the elder dragon, Lunastra. As Aiden's companions Mae (Caroline Caliston) and Ravi (Dan McCoy) fall before the monster while the village becomes engulfed in flames, Aiden grabs the remainder of Nadia's (G. K. Bowes) ammunition and asks Julius to buy him time. When Julius asks what Aiden plans to do, he responds simply, "To restore balance!"

To restore that balance, Aiden detonates the ammo at the base of the town dam, destroying it. The town floods violently, nearly wiping out the village while it douses the fire started by the dragon. Aiden's actions successfully stop Lunastra, who is swept away by the water. While the evacuated village might be damaged, its inhabitants have survived, and the village elder Daazel (Katie Leigh) notes that they can now rebuild the town on the banks of the new river, in better balance with the natural world.

"Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild" ends on a reasonably hopeful note for the village whose existence was threatened, but the encounter with Lunastra leaves two of Aiden's companions dead. Their sacrifice gave Aiden the time he needed to destroy the dam and save his home, but it left a mark on Aiden that viewers can observe in the more mature hunter in the film's opening and closing frame narrative.

The first companion to fall, Ravi, is a somewhat enigmatic character in "Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild," but viewers do come to understand that he has something of a troubled past. Julius explains that Ravi was once a Hunter in good standing with the Guild, but became disgraced when he abandoned the organization's rules to hunt monsters for sport. However, his selfless sacrifice to save the innocent villagers is a redemptive act that restores his honor.

On the other hand, Mae is killed by the dragon while defending a young girl from Lunastra's flames, cutting short a life dedicated to monster hunting and sharing the knowledge she collected in her journal. However, in the film's final moments, we see Mae's legacy being carried on as Aiden hands her notes to the only hunter who seems to take his story seriously. The young hunter reads Mae's final message to her parents, where she states her pride in fighting for the guild to help build a more harmonious world. Overall, the characters' deaths come serve a purpose, both in the film and in Aiden's character development arc.