Hereditary ending explained: The terrifying truth behind the final ritual

If you made it to the end of Ari Aster’s Hereditary and were left sitting in stunned silence, mouth slightly open in shock and brain spiraling into chaos - congratulations, you're not alone! The 2018 horror masterpiece isn’t your typical haunted-house flick. It’s a slow-burn psychological descent into madness, grief, and generational trauma, all wrapped up in a chilling supernatural bow. And that ending? Oh boy. It’s not just scary - it’s deeply unsettling because it rewires everything you thought you understood about the story.

What started as a family drama about loss ends in naked cultists, decapitations, and a demon named Paimon getting comfy in a new human host. So if you're confused about what the hell just happened (literally), let’s unpack the final act and decode the terrifying truth behind Hereditary’s ritualistic climax.

Hereditary ending explained

Throughout Hereditary, we’re misled into thinking this is a movie about grief driving a mother insane. Annie (Toni Collette, killing it as always) is plagued by visions, sleepwalking incidents, and a growing belief that her late mother was involved in something sinister. We’re so busy watching the family unravel that we don’t realize a demon is being summoned right under our noses.

Enter: King Paimon. According to occult lore (and a page Annie finds in her mother’s old books), Paimon is one of the eight kings of Hell, and he prefers a male host. Grandma Leigh, it turns out, was the head of a demon-worshipping cult. When she couldn’t implant Paimon in her own son (who committed suicide to escape her), she tried again with her daughter Annie’s children.

This explains Charlie’s eerie behavior. Yes, Charlie - Annie’s daughter, who dies shockingly early by decapitation. Here’s the catch: Charlie was Paimon all along, but he was in the “wrong” body. Her death wasn’t a tragic accident - it was step one in transferring Paimon into a suitable male host: Peter, her older brother.

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By the final act, all the pieces click together. Annie is fully possessed. Her headless corpse (along with Charlie’s and Leigh’s) ends up worshipping Peter, who has now been fully taken over by Paimon. The cultists kneel, proclaiming, “You are Paimon… one of the eight kings of Hell.” Their ritual is complete. Evil has triumphed - and disturbingly, it feels like this was fated from the beginning.

So in the end, Hereditary isn’t just a horror story - it’s a twisted fable about destiny, inheritance, and the things passed down through bloodlines… including demons!

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