Mudborn Ending Explained: Is Mu-hua Saved? What Does the Shocking Mid-Credit Scene Mean?

Mudborn Ending Explained: When game developer Hsu-chuan comes across a clay doll and brings it home, it invariably results in his pregnant wife getting possessed. How will he save her and their unborn child from turning up dead?

The film has a runtime of 110 minutes and is loosely inspired by the classic Taiwanese nursery rhyme “Mud Doll” (泥娃娃).

Mudborn Ending Explained

The film starts decently normally – a pregnant couple, giddy with excitement for their daughter’s arrival, try to get into the hang of things before their lives are changed forever. It blends Taiwanese folklore with modern situations and gives it a fresh twist. Developing a VR horror game based on a true murder mystery, expecting father Hsu-chuan invariably brings the curse to his house when the team who had gone to scope out the haunted home brings back a clay doll. However, this is no ordinary doll – it has a talisman painted on it, which has been destroyed after a portion of it was broken, thus releasing the spirit inside.

Of course, the spirit chooses to possess Mu-hua, Hsu-chuan’s wife, and things quickly started to go out of control. He gets in touch with exorcist Ah-shen, who gets to the bottom of the mystery with Liu Yen’s help, the haunted house’s owner, who ended up dead after murdering her wife and unborn child.

What is the story behind the doll?

After performing a ritual with Liu Yen, the team realises the doll’s origins – Liu Yen’s sister, Liu Hsin, also pregnant and a restorationist like Mu-hua, created the doll using soil from a graveyard and her own unborn fetus (after she suffers a miscarriage), which trapped the spirits in the clay inside and turned them malevolent. Thus, the spirits possessed Hsin and pushed her to kill her husband. After she realises what she has done, she kills herself by burning the house down with her inside.

Why is Mu-hua possessed?

The spirit was looking for the perfect host, and Mu-hua, who mirrored Hsin perfectly, thus turned out to be the perfect host.

Does Ah-shen exorcise the spirit?

Ah-shen realises quickly that they cannot exorcise the spirit but, rather, can contain it within a vessel. However, when the time comes, he realises that it can only be contained in a vessel that is alive and tries to contain it within Mu-hua. Thankfully, a desperate Hsu-chuan doesn’t let that happen and, instead, seals it within himself, leaving him comatose.

What does the ending signify?

In the end, we see Mu-hua with her baby, missing Hsu-chuan and interacting with him through a virtual reality world. However, the mid-credit scene shows that Ah-shen and Liu Yen were working together from the start and were collecting spirits and talismans from different such hauntings with only one spot now left – resurrection. Is Yen trying to resurrect her dead sister? What is her end goal? The film ends on an unconfirmed note, but one that definitely proves that the two are up to no good.

What are your thoughts on the Mudborn ending? Let us know in the comments below!

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