The Lighthouse ending explained

What happens

Winslow attacks Wake, takes the keys and climbs to the lamp. He sees something extraordinary in its light, then falls. He ends up on the rocks below, alive, while gulls eat him.

The last image

Winslow lies naked on the rocks, gulls tearing at him.

Three readings

1 · Divine punishmentLike Prometheus, he reached for a light that was never his.

2 · MadnessIsolation broke him, and the vision came from his own mind.

3 · Myth made realThe film dissolves reality and legend, so it may be both.

What it says

The ending turns the film's central idea into a single image. Wanting what is forbidden, in a place with no one to confirm who you are, ends in ruin. Eggers never settles why, so you keep the disorientation the men felt.