The Haunting of Bly Manor: What happens to Dani?
The Halloween season is upon us, which means new spooky titles are coming onto Netflix week by week. Today, The Haunting of Bly Manor dropped on the streaming service, the highly-anticipated follow-up to The Haunting of Hill House from 2018.
Just like the first show in Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting anthology series, Bly Manor is filled with twists and surprises. Following protagonist Dani Clayton (played by You and Hill House alum Victoria Pedretti), the story shows the American au pair go work for Henry Wingrave (Hill House alum Henry Thomas) at Bly Manor in England to look after his niece Flora and nephew Miles, two children who lost their parents.
Spoilers ahead!
As you’d imagine, extremely creepy stuff starts happening at the manor, and eventually one stubborn spirit gets ahold of Dani, never to let go. If you’re wondering what happens to Dani in the end of The Haunting of Bly Manor, continue reading.
We learn in the second to last episode of the season that Bly Manor was one lived in by a woman named Viola and her family. Feeling wronged by her husband and sister, her ghost continued to live at the house looking for her daughter. It’s confirmed that this is the frightening faceless woman we see multiple times throughout the season.
In the finale, Viola mistakenly sees poor Flora as her own daughter, and takes her with intent to drown her in the lake to live with her. Dani is choked out by Viola, but when she has strength enough to get up, she goes after the faceless ghost and is able to get Flora back.
However, the only way Dani is able to save Flora is by sacrificing herself. She tells Viola, “it’s you, it’s me, it’s us,” a common phrase used in the show which allows spirits to transfer between bodies. Quickly, one of Dani’s eyes eerily turn brown, alerting the audience that she had allowed the ghost into herself. The narrator also explains this to make it obvious.
Thankfully, Dani’s sacrifice is a game-changer for Bly Manor. By inviting Viola’s spirit into her body, she breaks the spell the ghost had cast on the estate. All seemingly goes back to normal, and Dani leaves with the gardener Jamie, who she had struck up a romance with throughout the previous episodes.
The two ladies move to America together, and although Dani is cautious about Viola’s spirit inside of her, five years go by with full peace and bliss.
Of course, with any horror story, however, this happiness does not last. Unfortunately, Dani starts to see Viola’s faceless reflection in windows, water, and other reflective surfaces. Despite this, Dani proposes to Jamie and the two have a heartfelt conversation about how they might not have much time left together.
Eventually, things turn from slightly alarming to straight-up dangerous. Dani has a dream that she’s strangling Jamie in the lake, and when she wakes up she has her hand around Jamie’s neck, seemingly about to hurt her. This is the final straw for Dani, and she sadly decides she must leave.
Jamie wakes up to an empty bed, and reads a note Dani had left her which explains why it was time for her to go. As expected, Jamie is heartbroken and decides to go back to Bly Manor to see if Dani is there.
Arguably the most upsetting scene in the season is when Jamie goes back to Bly Manor and sees Dani’s lifeless body in the water. She had officially become the new Lady in the Lake, and according to the narrator, no other children would be taken because of this.
Dani’s memories eventually fade, and Jamie is left always hoping she would somehow come back to her.
The Haunting of Bly Manor certainly doesn’t hold back on the emotion, even if it does fall short on the horror. Dani’s fate is extremely bittersweet.