The Shadow Strays (2024) Ending Explained – How did 13 become a shadow?

The Shadow Strays Plot Summary

The Shadow Strays is Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto’s latest action film that follows a young, nameless assassin called 13. The world of the shadows revolves around getting assignments to kill and completing them without judgement.

Asked to take a backseat by her mentor Umbra, 13 spends her days in a dingy apartment waiting for her next assignment until she witnesses a woman’s murder, befriends a child named Monji and when Monji is kidnapped by her mother’s killers, 13 decides to go on a hunting spree to get him back.

Why is Monji’s mother killed?

Ariel, the politician’s son along with his friends, a gangster Haga and a corrupt officer Prasetyo, was involved in a drug racket along with raping women at Hala’s club.  Monji’s mother had been a drug addict involved the trio who eventually blackmailed Ariel with her pregnancy.

With the upcoming elections in place, Ariel makes Haga’s goons murder her and later kidnap Monji, who later succumb to his injuries from Ariel’s assaults.

What was Umbra’s real mission?

While 13 had been left in her room, waiting for her next mission, Umbra had been on a mission to kill the shadows who’d broken away from the organisation. Umbra meets an associate and is surprised to find her pregnant.

Although the film does not explain the nature of the shadows’ lifestyle, it’s certainly does not involve raising a family and the shadows might go under a procedure to not be able to conceive. This explains Umbra’s slight hesitance to kill the shadow, who pleads to her that a life different than theirs is a possibliliy. However, no sooner does Umbra almost lets her leave, she’s killed by another active shadow Troika in cold blood,

How did 13 become a shadow?

From the ending sequences, we find that it was Umbra who’s killed 13 or Nomi’s mother. Although the film does not explain why, in her last breaths, Umbra tells 13, “Your name is Nomi, the daughter of my heart”. So, Nomi’s mother had been a loved one to Umbra and might have either been a defector or a target for an unspecified reason who Umbra had to kill without a choice. Umbra, then, takes in Nomi and raises her a shadow named 13 perhaps because otherwise, Nomi would’ve also been killed.

Why did 13 disobey Umbra’s orders?

From her vague memories that haunt 13, she remembered her mother dying in front of her and her calling out to her mother. This memory of her mother’s death left a huge trauma in 13’s life and from the hints in the film, we find that it was not 13’s decision to join the shadows, she was forced to do it.

Meeting Monji, who’d suffered a similar fate, with losing his mother at a young age coupled with 13’s increasing dissatisfaction as a shadow might have pushed her into defying Umbra and the organisation.

How does The Shadow Stray end?

In short, Ariel and his father along with all those associated with them die. Jeki is unfortunately killed by Umbra and 13’s handler. The handler ends up killing Umbra when she refuses to shoot 13 and finally, 13 kills Troika and the handler.

As she’s burying Monji’s body beside his mothers’s, more shadow’s arrive to kill her, one of them named 14, who decides to back out when a surprise individual threatens to blow all of them up. The man is revealed to be Umbra’s mentor, master Burai – one of the shadow leaders – who takes in Nomi into his care leaving the film ready for a second instalment.

 

Read More: The Shadow Strays Movie Review


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