“Furiosa” ending explained: How she loses her arm, Mad Max's cameo, and more

"Do ya have it in ya to make it epic?"

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

There's a moment teased in the trailer for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga in which Chris Hemsworth's villainous character Dementus looks up and asks, "Do ya have it in ya to make it epic?"

While the line is directed towards Anya Taylor-Joy's Furiosa, it also feels a bit like a challenge director and co-writer George Miller set for himself regarding the film's ending. And it's a challenge he handily meets and exceeds — for all of its gore and weird brutality, the ending is nothing short of epic, and is jam-packed with new lore for the History Men to pass on to future generations of road warriors. Let's unpack it all.

How does Furiosa lose her arm?

When Furiosa is first introduced in 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road (played in that film by Charlize Theron), she has a shaved head and a mechanical arm. The backstory behind her appearance is never explained in that movie, so when its prequel, Furiosa, was announced, fans were champing at the bit to know if that part of her origin story would be explored. To that end, they won't be disappointed, but a bit of patience is required, as the moment happens towards the film's finale. After Furiosa and War Rig mentor Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) have foiled Dementus' plans to overtake the Bullet Farm, they are chased by Dementus and his men. Furiosa's arm first finds itself caught between her car and the giant wheels of one of the vehicles pursuing her. After that gnarly incident, she and Jack are eventually captured, and she is strung up by that arm. While he gets dragged to death, kicking up a bit of a sandstorm in the process, Furiosa takes the opportunity to use her other arm to saw off the appendage, freeing herself and escaping back to the Citadel.

Related: Hitting the Fury Road: Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth go inside Furiosa, their full-throttle Mad Max prequel

There, she warns Immortan Joe of Dementus' plans to destroy him. In exchange for her supposed loyalty, she tells the Immortan she wants Dementus: "If you find him, he's mine." She proceeds to shave her head and build her arm from spare parts from the underbelly of the Citadel.

Is Mad Max in Furiosa?

After Furiosa's gruesome escape, Dementus' men follow her. Mad Max himself can be seen high atop a cliffside, back to the audience, standing next to his beloved Interceptor car, watching all of the madness from above.

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What happens to Dementus?

After Furiosa's warning, Immortan Joe and Dementus' forces engage in what the History Man narrator tells us is "the 40-Day Wasteland War." Eventually, Immortan Joe is victorious, and Dementus goes on the run with his remaining troops. Furiosa eventually tracks him down, but she doesn't seek her ultimate revenge right away. She toys with him first, making her car inch ever so closer to him without making contact. Eventually, she confronts him, beats him, and demands that he remember who she is. She says she wants her childhood and her mother — both of which Dementus stole from her — back. He tells her she can never "balance the scales of their suffering" and taunts her into beating him more until he finally figures out she is the little girl he kidnapped all those years ago. Dementus tells her he's been waiting for her, someone worthy of him, but warns her, "Do this right, and you become me," before finally asking her, "The question is, do ya have it in ya to make it epic?"

At this point, the History Man details all the brutal rumors about what Furiosa does next, laying out various scenarios of how Dementus might have met his end. But the History Man gives one final twist, telling us that none of those fables are true. Instead, he says, Furiosa told him directly that high in the Citadel is a garden with "a tree unlike any other" born from the seed Furiosa's mother gave her as a child. We see that Furiosa planted the seed in Dementus's body, leaving him to slowly rot as the plant blossoms from his flesh.

Related: George Miller provides update on his plans for the future of the Mad Max franchise

The film ends with virtually the same scene with which it began: Furiosa taking a fruit from a tree. This time, she's not taking it from the Green Place of Many Mothers, though; she's taking it from this sacred tree in the Citadel before smuggling Immortan Joe's wives out from under him, as seen in the opening moments of Fury Road. To underscore this connection, as Furiosa's credits roll, scenes from Fury Road play wordlessly in the background.

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