SPOILER ALERT:  So What Happens After the Events of MOSLEY?

Hint: there are clues... but you have to watch carefully

I have received many e-mails and messages from folks all over the world saying in essence, “I loved Mosley!  I loved all the characters.  But what happens next?  Where does Mosley's family go after being rescued?  What about Turpin being sold?  What happens with Kinesareth and the kingdom of elderly thoriphants?  Do they all die?  Are thoriphants ever freed from the curse of the ‘Great Corruption?’ What exactly is the Orchard anyway?” and so forth.  

Well… much of this backstory is intentionally mysterious (backstory always works best when it’s mysterious) but many of the “what happens next” questions can be answered with a little more popcorn and some careful viewing.

There are two big give-aways near the end of the film to answer what happens next.  One is easy to see.  The other you have to look for— a bit of an easter egg, for the discerning audience member.  First the easy one…

The End Credit Sequence and Journey Back to Kinesareth.

Yes, Mosley packs up his family (including Rue’s chick) and heads north, back to Kinesareth.  This is shown through drawings I created for the end credit sequence.  Somehow I felt simple drawings told this part of the story better than a full blown rendered sequence in the film.  

It’s a bit nostalgic-- as Mosley leads his family back the way he came and recounts his adventures to Bera, Rue, and Rosie.  They return to the caves and look at all the drawings, especially the one with the flaming sword.  From there the family exits out to the waterfalls and begins the long journey north.  A night is spent at the exact same camping spot where Mosley, Warnie, Deaver, and Gailin spent the night.  It is near one of the “sentinel houses” set up by the Uprights many years ago.  In the movie you'll see one of these houses at the top of the waterfalls, and another in ruins near the campground.  You can recognize a sentinel house by its towering Upright statue, pointing the way for any thoriphant wandering the world, seeking his proper home.  

Mosley lights a fire here and teaches the kids how to make shadow puppets, just as Deaver taught him.  The family is still enjoying all the wonder and potential of their new hands.  And then they crest the hill, the whole family now enjoying the same view Mosley had when he first arrived at Kinesareth.  We see the stunned faces of the old Uprights as the family approaches.  A beautiful reunion as Mosley introduces his family to these new/old friends.  The elderly thoriphants haven’t seen children for years and are particularly thrilled to meet Rue and Rosie.  The kids are thrilled too, finding themselves suddenly living in a kingdom of grandpas and grandmas.  Rue and Rosie put on a puppet show (finger puppets being yet another extraordinary benefit to having hands).  It is a wonderful pairing of young and old.  Finally we see Mosley and Bera in a private moment on the terrace of their new house, the first proper house they’ve ever lived in.  It’s a beautiful night full of fireflies…  and if you look quick, you’ll see that Bera is in the family way again.  The family grows happily ever after…

But Wait! What About….

But wait...  What about poor old Turpin?  And what about all those other bent backed thoriphants still left in the world, suffering under the oppression of men?  Well, that’s where our little easter egg comes in.  You’ll find it in the very last sequence of the movie.  Maybe take a minute to watch it again and see if you spot it.  If you can’t, come back here and I’ll spill the beans.  If you can, you might as well come back anyway because there’s more to tell.  The pic below will nudge you along...

Are you back?  Good.  Did you see anything?  Let me give you a hint.  Mosley brings a backpack with him when he returns to the farm.  We see that inside is fruit he has brought from the One Tree that reverses the Corruption and transforms bent backed thoriphants into Uprights.  There is one fruit for Bera, one for Rue, one for Rosie... and one more.

Why is there one more? Who is it for?

It was meant for old Turpin.

When making MOSLEY into a movie it was always my goal to tell a single intimate story within a larger story.  Of course with the ups and downs of the movie business you never know if you will get the chance to tell any more than one story. If this larger story ever gets an opportunity to be told (via publishing or film) then it’s nice to have certain things already set up.  If not then I wanted MOSLEY the movie to stand upright (no pun intended) on it’s own merits, without the promise of sequels or a franchise.  

As the writer/director I am completely content to have MOSLEY be the only story told in this world.  If it is, then the fate of old Turpin represents an important truth rarely seen in fables; that in life not everyone who is deserving gets a happy ending and that miracles are only miraculous if they don’t happen often.  If you think about it, Mosley and Turpin follow two very opposite trajectories.  At the beginning of the story Mosley doesn't believe in the promise of the Uprights.  He has been beaten down by life and is disenchanted.  “It’s a cruel thing to hope for,” he tells Rue.  But the discovery of the cave “re-enchants” Mosley and he comes to a shaky faith that all those stories just might actually be true.  

Turpin is opposite.  He very much believes in the Upright story, having taught Mosley when he was young and then Rue later on.  But circumstances in Turpin's life begin to shake that faith loose.  Later in the film when asked directly by Rue if “it’s all true,” Turpin defers to subjective hope— “Rue, if you truly believe in your heart,” but Rue will have none of it.  As kids often do, Rue cuts to the heart of the matter with his next statement.  “No, Mr. Turpin, it has to be really real.  Not just in my heart.”  And of course Rue is right.  It’s like a kid asking, “is grandma in the ground now or in heaven?”  How does a parent answer such a question?  Either the Uprights exist or they don’t.  The heart can be desperate and believe falsehood.  If the Upright legends are true then they are worth hoping in.  If they are not, then they truly are, as Mosley said, “a cruel thing to hope for.”  Before leaving the farm Turpin confesses sadly that he doesn’t know whether it's true or not.  I think this is where many of us find ourselves in regard to faith.  We hope what we believe is true but we don’t know for sure.  It’s a difficult place to live, but it is perhaps the most honest place to live.  

But, story-wise, this one remaining fruit implies a future for Turpin and all thoriphants. Mosley and his family are now a bridge to freedom.  There are two more thoriphants stories I have written, part 2 and 3 of the larger story.  Part 2 begins with Mosley and Rue seeking out old Turpin to give him the remaining fruit. But just exactly how do two Upright thoriphants sneak into the world of men?  Maybe one day I’ll get to tell those stories. Suffice to say that this mission tips a sequence of events that could bring all thoriphants to the Orchard, the One Tree, and liberation-- only at great cost.

But one adventure at a time.  I’m grateful for those of you who enjoyed Mosley.

Cheers

Kirby