The Snow Girl Ending, Explained: Who Kidnapped Amaya Martín?

Netflix’s Spanish series ‘The Snow Girl’ revolves around Amaya Martín, who gets kidnapped while taking part in the Twelfth Night Parade with her parents Ana and Álvaro. Miren Rojo, an intern at a Málaga-based newspaper named Diario Sur, takes a special interest in the case and sets out to find the kidnappers herself. She, at times, collaborates with police officer Belén Millán to find Amaya for the grieving parents. Originally titled ‘La Chica de Nieve,’ the series ends with intriguing revelations and developments concerning Amaya’s past and present. If you wish to dive into the thriller series’ ending, you are at the right place! SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Snow Girl Recap

‘The Snow Girl’ begins with Amaya disappearing amid the Twelfth Night Parade celebrations. Ana and Álvaro search for their daughter but their efforts do not yield any favorable results. Miren Rojo, who is forced to deal with less significant affairs at Diario Sur as an intern, convinces her professor and senior journalist Eduardo to include her in the reporting of Amaya’s missing case. The lack of a ransom call surprises Belén Millán, who heads the police investigation into the disappearance of the little girl. The only immediate lead Millán garners is Amaya’s yellow jacket, which is found in a nearby apartment complex.

In 2016, six years after the kidnapping of Amaya, Miren receives a VCR tape with a message that instructs her to share it with the parents of the missing girl. Miren, Ana, Álvaro, and Millán watch the tape and get assured that Amaya is alive. Soon after Amaya’s disappearance, Millán’s investigation leads to Ana and Álvaro’s neighbor and family friend David Luque. Although David has an alibi on the night of Amaya’s disappearance, Millán and her team conduct a search in an apartment that belongs to the Luque family. They find several CDs of child pornography, only for the police officer to realize that David and his son Samuel are rapists. Upon realizing that the police have found the truth about him, Samuel kills himself.

In 2016, both Miren and Millán try to find who recorded the VCR tape. Using the characteristics of the same, a tech analyst determines the specific model, which leads them to James Foster, who has a prior record of assaulting a minor. Even though Millán takes him into custody, he succeeds in walking away soon since he has an alibi as well. When Miren talks to him, he lets her know that he is aware of her rape since the same was recorded and uploaded on Slide, a child pornography website. Foster asks for ten grand from Miren in return for the list of the website’s users and administrator, which will be essential for her to find out who raped her.

In 2019, nine years after Amaya’s disappearance, Miren gets the second VCR tape with a text that translates to, “Goodbye.” Ana and Álvaro get worried that the kidnappers will stop reaching out to them to cut ties between them and their daughter. While the two of them immerse in unceasing grief, Miren makes a discovery concerning the particular VCR model that was used to record the two videotapes.

The Snow Girl Ending: Who Kidnapped Amaya Martín? Why?

While comparing the first and second VCR tapes, Miren finds out that the second one’s quality is a lot better although both of them were recorded using the same device. The journalist goes to several shops where VCRs are still repaired and finds out that a woman named Iris Molina has recently repaired the same model. Iris and her husband Santiago kidnap Amaya amid the Twelfth Night Parade. At the time, Iris is Ana’s patient. When Ana lets her know that she cannot get pregnant, she considers her life cursed. As a couple who has been waiting eagerly for a child, Ana’s revelation breaks her and Santiago’s hearts. During the parade, Iris and Santiago encounter Amaya, who is separated from her parents.

While Ana and Álvaro search for Amaya, Ana’s desire to be a mother conquers her conscience, which makes her kidnap the young girl. As always, Santiago follows and supports his wife. Since she cannot get pregnant and lead a life as a mother on her own, Iris decides to nurture Amaya as her own daughter to fulfill her desire. Although Santiago expresses his doubts concerning the same at first, he eventually accepts his life as a father. Amaya, on the other hand, initially insists that Ana is not her mother. But it doesn’t take long for Iris to change the young girl’s mind as she starts calling her Julia.

Gradually, Ana and Álvaro’s Amaya transforms into Iris and Santiago’s Julia mentally and emotionally. They teach Julia that the world around them is filled with “bad men” and she shouldn’t trust anyone but her “mother and father.” Whenever someone visits the couple, Julia runs to her room in fear of the “bad men” who are capable of hurting her immensely as per her beliefs. Iris succeeds in nurturing panic and fear in Julia enormously, which ultimately kills her memories of her real parents. Since Iris and Santiago are the only human beings Julia knows, she ends up trusting them. She becomes Iris’ daughter in every way possible, fulfilling the latter’s desire to become a mother.

Iris and Santiago do not kidnap Amaya to hurt Ana and Álvaro. They are even moved by the latter couple’s plights and sadness, which makes them send a VCR tape to the parents. Iris and Santiago want the parents of their “daughter” to know that she is safe, expecting the same to ease their pain.

Do Ana and Álvaro Get Amaya Back?

Although Iris succeeds in hiding Amaya as her daughter Julia for nine long years, a mistake she does exposes her identity to Miren. The journalist arrives at her house, in search of Amaya, after knowing about the VCR repair. It doesn’t take long for Iris to understand the real intentions of Miren’s arrival, which makes her run away from her house. When she realizes that she cannot hide Amaya anymore, she decides to kill herself and the girl by driving her van to a slope. Even though her attempt kills Iris, Amaya survives the same and the authorities admit her to a care center. Millán lets Ana and Álvaro know that Amaya and Julia’s fingerprints have matched as she ensures that the girl is indeed their daughter.

Since the authorities make sure that Julia is Amaya, Ana and Álvaro do get their daughter back. But as far as Amaya is concerned, she is Julia, the daughter of Iris and Santiago. When her real parents arrive at the care center to retrieve her, Amaya not only doesn’t recognize them but also fails to respond to them when they call her Amaya. She responds to her parents only when they call her Julia, indicating that they haven’t gotten her daughter back mentally and emotionally. Considering that Iris has forced the girl to accept the identity of Julia and grow fear of the outsiders, Ana and Álvaro may not even be able to “undo” their daughter’s learnings and beliefs.

With the help of prestigious mental health professionals, Ana and Álvaro may try to regain their Amaya but such a process may overwhelm the girl, who already had to endure a similar process to transform into Julia. Furthermore, Ana and Álvaro may accept their daughter as Julia and try to open a new chapter of her life without forcing her past on her. After nine years of their daughter’s disappearance, Ana and Álvaro may haven’t even expected to reunite with her. Since that happens, they may find happiness in accepting Julia as well.

Who Killed David Luque and James Foster? Why?

While Millán’s investigation into Amaya’s disappearance progresses, she learns that James Foster and David Luque were killed and burnt along with the former’s RV. From a safe in the burnt-down RV, the police officer garners a photograph of Miren, which makes her the prime suspect in the double murder case. Although Millán fails to gather enough evidence to prosecute the journalist, both Foster and David are seemingly killed by Miren. Considering the photographs taken by the journalist, it is clear that she has been keeping an eye on both rapists and it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that they get killed around the same period.

Miren must have killed David and Foster for their involvement in the child pornography website Slide. Although she initially tries to find her rapists, the journalist must have realized that David and Foster are the bigger threats since they have destroyed the lives of many by playing an important role in the operation of the pornography website. Rather than wasting her energy and time in a possibly fruitless search, Miren kills the duo also to ensure that they wouldn’t threaten any other girl’s life. The act of murdering them may have also given Miren a sense of relief since they will not be able to produce more child pornography.

Who is Laura Valdivia? Who Sent Her Photo to Miren?

Miren’s discovery of Amaya turns her life around as she becomes a star overnight. She also becomes an appreciated author and her name starts to get revered in the journalism circles of the region. While she attends a reading of her book, she receives a photograph, in an anonymous parcel, of a girl tied up. The photo is accompanied by the name “Laura Valdivia,” indicating that the girl in the same is Laura, seemingly a kidnapping victim. Since the photograph is sent to Miren as a challenge, the person behind the same is most likely Laura’s kidnapper.

The fame and acclaim Miren receive for solving the missing case of Amaya may have hurt the ego of Laura’s kidnapper. He may want to witness the journalist’s failure, which will make him a potent criminal. Since Laura’s condition seems worse, Miren may accept the challenge and try to find out the kidnapper.