'Raised by Wolves' Ending Explained: Where are the voices coming from and what are the secrets of Keppler-22b?
Spoilers for 'Raised by Wolves' Season 1
What started out as a simple story of a pair of androids raising atheist children on a barren planet has since evolved into something else entirely. While the season finale of 'Raised by Wolves' gave us more questions than answers, we take a look at the shocking events that happened in the season finale, what they mean and what questions are the most important when going into Season 2.
Mother's pregnancy, father's jealousy
Mother (Amanda Collin) explains her pregnancy and theorizes that her time in the simulation of her own memories unlocked programming that was hidden by her creator, Campion Sturges (Cosmo Jarvis). She believes that unlocking that programming allowed her to interface with her creator in a way that unlocked several other programs that unfolded in a manner most pleasurable to the android. It's Father (Abubakar Salim) who realizes that, unconventional as it may be, interacting pleasurably with an entity — or even the electronic ghost of one — in a way that directly leads to pregnancy is essentially mating, which is what causes his feelings of jealousy to emerge.
Congratulations Mother, it's a snake!
It turns out, however, that Mother's child might not be from Campion Sturges after all when she gives birth to a deadly and dangerous snake. Though Mother needs her eyes to activate her Necromancer powers, they're still a part of her, and as such, the snake has some of her Necromancer powers as well. It can fly like she can, though whether it can destroy people with its shriek remains to be seen. It also displays tremendously fast growth, as even in the womb, its cellular growth was "off the charts". By the end of the episode, it's grown from the size of a common garden snake to one that's nearly as big as a train. After feeding off of Mother's milk, it's going to want blood next — and the planet is filled with that.
Mother was told that this snake was meant to be the next stage of evolution, but Campion Sturges would obviously never want something like this to happen, meaning that it's another force that hacked Mother's memory and rewired her programming to allow for this unique pregnancy. It should be noted that Mother didn't find the simulation pod on her own. She was led there by Tally's ghost, one of the many strange occurrences on Keppler-22b.
It's devolution
Keppler-22b is revealed to have a lot more mysteries than anyone knew. One of the more shocking revelations is the origin of the creatures we've seen throughout the show. They've always been animated with eerily human-like expressions, and this episode we discover that they were, in fact, once an intelligent species on par with humans — a species that has somehow devolved into its most primal state. How this happened is unclear, but might have something to do with the visions Mother saw, and the polyhedral devices that have been appearing in the series — the large one, in the desert, that the Mithraic worshipped, and the smaller one she discovered holding the remains of a local creature.
There is at least one Keppler-22b native who has retained their intelligence. It's the one that stole the childrens' trackers, made cave paintings of the androids, and then attacked them. While that one is dead, there may be others. The biggest question remains, what happened to them all?
Where are the voices coming from?
Whether or not you choose to believe in Sol, one thing is for sure — people are hearing voices and those voices are orchestrating events. The voices recognized that role that Marcus (Travis Fimmel) would play, guiding him to a leadership position so that he'd be the one to spare Mother's life, so that she could give birth to the snake. The voices seem to believe Campion (Winta McGrath) is a threat, which is why they tried to get him to kill himself. The voices have spoken to Paul (Felix Jamieson) as well, recognizing the boy's intelligence and willingness to listen. This is why they directed Paul to disable the lander in an attempt to prevent Mother's escape, and why it revealed Sue's (Niamh Algar) true identity so that Paul would trust the voices instead of her.
The voices have also facilitated great miracles — impregnating Mother with the impossible, strengthening Otho (Brendan Murray/Adrian Schiller), giving her visions, and most impressive of all, bringing Mouse and Talley's ghost back, saving Mother and Father's life by shielding them from the magma at the planet's core and spitting them right back out again so that the snake child could stay alive. These miracles are definitely the work of a powerful entity but whether it's Sol, some deeper entity within Keppler-22b, or something else altogether is the show's biggest mystery at the moment.
It's possible that the mysteries of Keppler-22b tie directly into Mithraic faith. After all, the Mithraic have pointed out several objects from Keppler-22b as a part of their prophecies. What's more, as the 'Raised by Wolves' comic reveals, the Necromancers weren't designed by humans but were discovered as a part of their scriptures. Wherever the voices come from, they possess an intimate knowledge of how Necromancers function, able to hack into and reprogram them. Meaning that the civilization that once existed on Keppler-22b may have somehow inspired Mithraic faith in the first place.
What's in store for Season 2?
There are two major threats on Keppler-22b now. The snake, the Mithraic and the ship of new arrivals on the planet who appear to be atheists, escaped from Earth. At first, there seems to be an illusion brought on by Marcus' insanity, but after he fights a number of them, it's revealed that they are real and that the Mithraic weren't the only ones who survived Earth's destruction. With the Mithraic and the atheists both on Keppler-22b, they might just restart the war that killed Earth. That is, if the snake doesn't kill them first.
Season 2 has left all of its main characters in a bad place, and separated. Paul is on the run, after shooting his mother, with only the voices to guide him. Sue is dying of her wounds in the care of the remaining children. Campion is their sole warrior, for the moment, having gotten over his reluctance to hurt others. Marcus is insane, separated from the Mithraic, and may have found allies in the invading atheists. Mother and Father are injured following their escape from the snake and the snake itself threatens to destroy everyone.
Season 2 needs to explore just where the voices are coming from, what the purpose of the snake is and what the secrets behind Keppler-22b's past truly are, while at the same time showing us just how the last few survivors of Earth are expected to survive the snake and each other, and forge a new destiny for humanity going forward.
All episodes of 'Raised by Wolves' Season 1 are now available to stream on HBO Max.