The Revenant ending explained

What happens

Glass lets the river carry the wounded Fitzgerald to the Arikara, who kill him. Glass doesn't deliver the final blow himself. Revenge is carried out, but not by his hand, and it leaves him empty rather than satisfied.

The last image

Glass, exhausted, looks straight into the camera as the film ends.

Three readings

1 · Revenge is hollowHe gets what he wanted, and it gives him nothing back.

2 · Letting goLeaving Fitzgerald to the river hands vengeance to something larger than Glass.

3 · A question for youThe look breaks the spell and asks you what all that suffering was worth.

What it says

The film asks whether vengeance can settle anything, and who has the right to claim it. Glass's look hands that question to you. His grief and his will to live carried him this far, and the ending lets you decide what it was worth.