Orion and the Dark Ending Explained: What Happened to Hypatia and Who Is Tycho?
Based on the children’s book of the same name by Emma Yarlett, Orion and the Dark is an animated Netflix film that tells the story of a boy who is afraid of many things until he finds out. The incarnation of his worst fear takes him on a roller coaster around the world to prove that there is nothing to fear at night. The film directed by Sean Charmatz from a script by Charlie Kaufman begins with Orion listing his fears, which range from the most common ones such as fear of clowns to the most irrational scenarios.
He refuses to go on a trip to the Planetarium even though Sally, the girl he has a crush on, asks him to sit next to him. During the night, the protagonist of Orion and the Dark must deal with his greatest fear: the dark. When his parents go to sleep and their emergency lights fail, the boy must confront a tall and seemingly terrifying figure. He is the real personification of darkness, who is tired of Orion’s screams, so he proposes to show her the wonders that he hides so that she loses her fear of him.
Orion and the Dark: Plot Summary
Orion (originally voiced by Jacob Tremblay) is a child who lives his days overcoming a considerable number of fears, ranging from the most understandable ones such as talking to the girl he likes, answering the teacher’s questions, or being mistreated by the school bully. school to other decidedly more curious ones, such as flushing the toilet, cutting one’s hair, taking the bus, and so on. In short, he is the classic child who needs to find the courage to throw himself into situations, except that these are practically all situations. Orion is probably Kaufman in elementary school and perhaps that is precisely why the writer decided to tell his story. Things don’t improve for the young man when the sun goes down, on the contrary: if the day is scary, the night is three times as scary, to the point that his constant shouts annoy those who work at night.
Like Buio (Paul Walter Hauser), but also her companions Quiet (Aparna Nancherla), Insomnia (Nat Faxon), Sleep (Natasia Demetriou), Mysterious Noises (Golda Rosheuvel), and Sweet Dreams (Angela Bassett). Such a nuisance that Buio himself decides to remedy, appearing before Orion to propose to leave with him for an overnight journey to discover all the beauties that hide behind the light of the Sun. A great story, right? Grown-up Orion (Colin Hanks) also thinks so and is telling it like this para to his daughter Hypatia (Mia Akemi Brown) – another name that has something to say, who is also petrified by fear of the dark and therefore unable to sleep. Together, the two will build a story in which they will be able to dig into the depths of their fears, finding something in common with the object of the phobia and also with their relationship, to finally be able to fly hand in hand towards the future.
Orion and the Dark Ending Explained: What Happened to Hypatia and Who Is Tycho?
Despite the great terror he feels, Orion accepts and immerses himself in the hidden world of Dark, which introduces him to other nocturnal entities such as Insomnia, Sleep, Sweet Dreams, and Quiet and Unexplained Noises. All of them are alarmed to see the little one, since he represents a danger to completing his duties. Darkness shows Orion the important work that nocturnal entities do every night, but instead of calming down and overcoming his fears, the boy feels the opposite and loses control during a Sweet Dreams session. Although they manage to overcome the threat, the entities prohibit them from intervening again.
Orion is disappointed because he is still afraid of everything, but Dark points out that at least he is no longer afraid of him. At that point, Orion and the Dark reveals that the story is part of a tale that the adult Orion tells his fearful daughter Hypatia. Back to the adventures of the boy and Darkness, they both enjoy the time they have left and help the other nocturnal entities with their work. During a break, Orion meets Light and is amazed, which Darkness does not like due to the insecurities that Light awakens in him. The boy’s fear reappears when they reach a dark cabin and he begins to speak of the virtues of the day, something that the other entities cannot see because of Dark. Motivated by Orion, Sleep, Sweet Dreams, Quiet, and Unexplained Noises, they abandon Darkness. Tired of being rejected by everyone, Dark decides to let himself be reached by Light’s brilliance and disappear. Adult Orion’s story ends there, so his daughter Hypatia sets out to conclude it.
Meaning of the Ending
After reading a beautiful poem, Hypatia gets the nocturnal entities to return and together they make a plan to bring Dark back: enter Orion’s memory and use the boy’s memory to bring Dark back to life. Each one plays an important role and they find Dark. But before they can get out of there, a kind of black hole appears and takes everything around it. Hypatia and Sweet Dreams come out of Orion’s head to try to wake him up before it’s too late. Mentioning that he will miss the trip to the Planetarium, the boy wakes up and everyone is safe.
The Darkness returns and everyone on earth is grateful. When the nocturnal entities say goodbye, Orion and Hypatia still have a problem to solve: how to return the girl to the future? While they search for a solution, a new character, Tycho, appears and offers his time machine. Before boarding the machine, Tycho and Hypatia destroy some monsters that threaten them. After leaving Orion’s daughter in his time, Tycho returns to the future, where he concludes the story that his mother was telling him. So, who is Tycho? Hypatia’s son. Orion and the Dark ends with adult Hypatia telling her father that his son ingeniously completed the story. Furthermore, an elderly Sally appears and asks her husband if she can sit next to him to admire the darkness.
