Sumith Prasad
In Apple TV+’s horror series ‘The Changeling,’ Emma “Emmy” Valentine and Apollo Kagwa welcome baby Brian soon after their marriage. Although they expect happiness and harmony along with the birth of their son, what they receive is misery. Emma then kills her son brutally, astounding Apollo. However, she then sets out to find her son after claiming that what she killed was an imposter rather than Brian. In the eighth and final episode of the series, Emma’s search for Brian concludes. So, does she find him? Is Brian alive? Let us share our take on the same! SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Changeling
Baby Brian is seemingly alive. At the end of the series finale, Emma arrives in Little Norway and listens to the crying of a baby, who most likely is Brian. As Emma has been believing, the baby she killed is nothing but a changeling, a creature substituted for her real son by the “fairies.” When Apollo goes to his son’s grave and opens the coffin, he sees a creature who is alive and spits a blood-like fluid into his face, which also explains how the murdered baby is not his son but a non-human creature. Brian must have gotten stolen by the “fairies,” who placed a changeling in his place.
Emma realizes that Brian is alive through ‘To the Waters and the Wild,’ the children’s book Apollo’s father Brian West read to him when he was a child. The book reads, “A baby is a dream made real. But dreams are fairies’ favorite meal. There at the window, they watch while it sleeps. The child so beautiful, the fairies all weep. We want it. We need it. It’s ours for the taking. The young one is gone but they will never know in its place, a thing without life, hard and cold.” Emma kills the “hard and cold thing” and sets out to find her baby, who is hidden in the woods. By tracking the Norway maple leaf she encounters at North Brother Island, Emma arrives in Little Norway to listen to a baby’s cry.
The “fairy” who snatches Brian from Emma and Apollo must be William Wheeler. He is part of an organization that is submissive towards the creature hidden in the woods. Brian and other lost children of the Wise Ones can be William and his peers’ offerings to the creature.
Emma’s Glow
Although Brian is apparently alive, retrieving him from the creature and/or “fairies” can be a tough undertaking for her. As per ‘To the Waters and the Wild,’ the fairies try their best to not lose the baby they stole. “The child in their arms will never grow sick or old or weak or ever unloved. Not as long as the stars shine up above. The fairies will hold it close to their breast. They won’t give it back. They love it the best,” the book reads. Therefore, Emma most likely will get tested when she tries to get her son back from the creature hiding in the forest.
However, Emma is potent enough to fight for Brian, as indicated by the bluish glow that’s seen in her eyes. While traveling through São Paulo, Emma meets a witch, who grants her three wishes. Emma’s second wish is a good child. The witch’s power may help Emma fight for her child irrespective of the potency of the evil forces who stole the baby away from her. The strength she must have garnered through the second wish may enable her to reconnect with her baby without any harm befalling the latter. If that’s the case, she will become the first Wise One to reunite with a lost baby.
Even if Emma succeeds in reuniting with Brian, the baby may need to wait for a while to be with his father. At the end of the series finale, Apollo confronts the creature hidden in Little Norway and he may need to escape from the same to be with his son.
Read More: Is Apple TV+’s The Changeling a True Story? Is it Based on a Real Murder Case?
