"The Magicians" Finale Just Pulled Off Its Most Heart-wrenching Risk Yet

Warning: Major spoilers for The Magicians season four finale below.

The Magicians has never shied away from the unconventional. Which makes sense, considering that the Syfy series is about a ragtag group of young people studying magic, exploring fantastical worlds, embarking on epic quests, and going head-to-head with gods all the while dealing with their own personal problems. But throughout its four seasons, the show has pushed the limits of genre storytelling and dabbled with its own magic, going where few series have gone before. With its heartbreaking season four finale on April 17, The Magicians has proved once again to be one of the most innovative risk-takers in modern television all the while punching us right in the feels.

At the very beginning of The Magicians, we meet the show’s main character Quentin Coldwater (portrayed by actor Jason Ralph), a socially-awkward young man who has long struggled with his mental health, who can pull off a mesmerizing card trick, and who would rather re-read the beloved fantasy series Fillory and Further than hang out with partygoers at his best friend Julia Wicker’s (Stella Maeve) home. He stumbles upon Brakebills University and discovers that magic is real, setting into motion adventures against evil forces, befriending fellow magicians, finding out that Fillory is actually real (a kingdom where he is also knighted a king), and plenty more. During Wednesday night’s finale of The Magicians, Quentin sacrifices himself to save not only his friends, but the entire world. You read that right: The show kills off its main character.

Now, this isn’t the first time that a series has offed its primary protagonist. In many science fiction and fantasy worlds, nobody’s completely dead (the series has already brought back characters that met their demise one way or another), however, there is a finality to this loss. Quentin’s death is a culmination of so many of The Magicians’ most salient themes, an emotional apex that only this quirky, ambitious show could pull off. It’s both a tragedy and a blessing for the friends he leaves behind, a bittersweet moment that proves The Magicians is one of the best series on television.

It seems like there were a number of clues leading up to his narrative decision. The Magicians has quietly become one of the more racially diverse shows on television, a fantasy series that has portrayed many characters who are people of color as three-dimensional figures instead of props in the background. Quentin was always central to the show, jokingly referred to as the group’s own “Harry Potter” by Summer Bishil’s Margo. But the series has let all of its supporting characters grow into their own and stand in the spotlight. We all know that too many white males continue to get to play hero, that often the plot only exists to help move along their story. The Magicians has addressed that trope in its own cheeky, inquisitive way. Last season’s episode “Six Short Stories About Magic” demonstrated just how vital a flurry of side characters’ own stories were to the season-long mission of restoring magic, which also included a beautiful vignette told in American Sign Language. During season four, there was “The Side Effect,” an episode that featured the line: “When you file people away as sidekicks, you don’t realize their importance to the story. And this story belongs to a lot more people than you think.” Quentin’s death furthers this message and completely shatters the idea that you need a white male lead to carry a show or save the day — it’s already been an ensemble duty throughout The Magicians.

Perhaps what has been another one of the show’s greatest magic tricks is making Quentin much more than just that default white male lead. We’ve seen plenty of imperfect white males be disproportionately lauded, but he knew his capabilities. He always knew that Alice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) was better at magic and that Margo and Eliot (Hale Appleman) were better rulers of Fillory than he was. Quentin knew his place and when to take a step back. The Magicians also did something that few series would dare to do: it portrayed its male protagonist on a spectrum of sexuality after he and out queer character Eliot had a lifelong companionship together in an alternate timeline. Additionally, their relationship with each other was mentally internalized once they were restored to their original timeline and Queliot (the ship name) was essential to this past season.

“We want ‘The Magicians’ to visit strange and fascinating new places, and we know we can't get there by treading the same garden path others have before us,” the show’s executive producers John McNamara, Sera Gamble, and Henry Alonso Myers wrote in a statement about the shocking finale. “So, we did the thing you're not supposed to do — we killed the character who's supposed to be ‘safe.’ In real life, none of us are safe.”

Furthermore, Quentin’s ultimate sacrifice was full circle in many ways. Although magic went from something he could only dream about to his reality, it didn’t solve all his problems. He wasn’t magically cured of his insecurities and depression. In many ways, magic only complicated things further. Every magician has some sort of natural ability. Penny, for example, can travel between time and space. Alice can bend light, burning holes in things or making herself invisible. Quentin’s special power? He could fix small things. In a world of talking dragons and invincible gods, that doesn’t sound like much. However, that capability is what ends up being what saves the entire world: he quickly mends a mirror that’s a portal to an abyss in which he throws the essence of a monster that can possess people, and in doing so, is engulfed in a magical explosion of lights.

In spellcasting terms, naturally being able to fix small objects doesn’t sound like that big of a deal. But when it comes to the real world, it practically means the world. Because isn’t it sometimes the small things that break us? The old relationships that still haunt us, that tiny voice that says you’re not good enough? Being able to fix all the small, broken things in life sounds like quite the superpower.

Throughout the series, there has been this message that magic doesn’t come from all that sparkles in life. Magic comes from pain. Before Quentin departs for the underworld, he’s allowed to see his friends one last time, although they can’t see him. He watches as they all honor him sitting around a pit of fire, throwing Quentin keepsakes into the flames. Julia, the one who has been there for Q since the beginning, sacrificed her own powers to save the day at the end of season three and was unable to use magic throughout this past season. Through a stream of tears, she tosses Quentin’s deck of cards, but instead of burning they flutter into the air — it’s the same way Quentin’s own magic first manifested at the beginning of the series. Somehow, losing her best friend helped her find new power.

It might be painful to say goodbye to Quentin, but there’s undoubtedly magic that’ll come from his departure. He leaves behind friends who are better because of him, who are living because of him. What they do with that magic is yet to be seen. Sending Quentin to the underworld is arguably the biggest risk that The Magicians has ever done. But the risks are what have made The Magicians such a formidable force. Losing the main character might break some shows, but The Magicians isn’t just any other show.

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