SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!
In a time of superstition and magic, a young apprentice hunter, Robyn Goodfellowe, journeys to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last wolf pack. While exploring the forbidden lands outside the city walls, Robyn befriends a free-spirited girl, Mebh, a member of a mysterious tribe rumored to have the ability to transform into wolves by night. As they search for Mebh’s missing mother, Robyn uncovers a secret that draws her further into the enchanted world of the “Wolfwalkers” and risks turning into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Wolfwalkers Video Summary
Wolfwalkers Plot Summary and Synopsis
In Ireland in 1650, the residents of the town of Kilkenny are working to clear the nearby woods under orders from the authoritarian Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, putting them at odds with a wolf pack. English hunter Bill Goodfellowe, with his rebellious daughter Robyn, has been summoned to Kilkenny by the Lord Protector to exterminate the wolves. Wanting to help Bill, Robyn secretly follows him out of town with her pet falcon, Merlyn. After accidentally shooting Merlyn with her crossbow while trying to kill a wolf, Robyn watches a mysterious girl take him into the woods and follows them.
Upon finding Merlyn, miraculously healed, a young wolf startles her into a trap. As the wolf frees Robyn, she tries to fight it, causing it to bite her. Merlyn and the wolf lead Robyn to the wolves den, where she discovers the wolf is the same girl from earlier.
The girl, Mebh, explains she is a “wolfwalker”, whose spirit becomes a wolf when she sleeps. Robyn comes to befriend Mebh, and also learns that her dormant mother Moll’s spirit has not yet returned in her search for a new home for their pack. Returning home, Robyn tries to convince Bill of the existence of wolfwalkers, but he scolds her for going into the forest instead.
The next morning, while working at the scullery by order of the Lord Protector, Robyn is drawn into his chambers by a mysterious voice coming from a concealed cage but is ushered out by the head maid. That night, as she sleeps, Robyn discovers her soul has left her body and become a wolf as a result of Mebh’s bite, thus turning her into a wolfwalker.
Robyn returns to the woods where Mebh helps her get accustomed to her new form. Upon returning to Kilkenny, Robyn infiltrates the Lord Protector’s manor. She finds Moll inside the cage, who tells Robyn that Mebh and the pack must leave the forest, as the Lord Protector is planning to burn it to wipe them out.
The Lord Protector, seeking to restore control of the town, assures the townspeople he can tame the wolf he’s captured, and by extension, nature itself. He ignores Robyn’s pleas to let Moll go and demotes Bill to a foot soldier for failing to eliminate the wolves.
Fearing separation from each other, Robyn and Bill tend to their duties. Mebh, having waited for Robyn to return on a promise from the previous night, enters Kilkenny. She finds Robyn, who attempts to relay her mother’s warning, but Mebh, hurt by Robyn’s refusal to help rescue her mother out of concern for her safety, resolves to do it alone. The Lord Protector presents the captured Moll before the townspeople.
An enraged Mebh attempts to free her, and when Bill restrains her, Moll bites him. Mebh flees, but she vows to return with her pack to rescue her mother. The Lord Protector orders Bill to kill Moll, and leads his army to burn the forest down. Robyn protects Moll from Bill, then frees and reunites her with Mebh before she and her pack can attack Kilkenny, earning Mebh’s forgiveness.
Bill follows them and shoots Moll with an arrow, causing Moll’s wolf form to become a spirit and return to her human form in the den, with Robyn, Mebh, and the wolves following it. The Lord Protector and his army arrive and begin razing the forest.
As Mebh works to heal a grievously wounded Moll, Robyn, and the pack stall the soldiers. Mebh summons Robyn and her pack back, realizing she needs them present to heal Moll, but Robyn is knocked unconscious after disabling the army’s cannon.
Before the Lord Protector can kill her, Bill, due to Moll’s bite, becomes a wolfwalker to protect Robyn and overpowers the Lord Protector in his wolf form. Rather than let Bill kill him, the Lord Protector commits suicide by falling into an abyss.
The Ending
Robyn and Bill return to the den and help Mebh revive Moll, and accept her invitation to stay with the pack and embrace their new identities as wolfwalkers. They later set off west with their pack to find a new home.
Wolfwalkers Ending Explained
The protagonists defeat the forces of evil and decide not to get back to their prior life. Their new family (wolfwalkers pack) which they saved by putting their own lives at risk is what really matters now.
Cooncel Rating
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).