The Real Reason Why the Cult Killed Their Guests in Midsommar

Midsommar, one of the craziest horror films that involve a deadly cult popped into my head recently, all because of one thing that baffled me. Sure, the entire film was an unexpected roller coaster, but I could not get over the fact of how dumb the main cast in the movie was. 

And I'm not saying that the writing was bad for these characters. 

The characters were purposely written like this.

The main group consisted of Christian's friend group, that was the boyfriend of Dani. Every single person in this group was kind of a piece of shit. But I think that was the intention of the director when it came to the people who were picked to die by the hands of the cult. 

One of the friends was a guy named Pelle, who was part of the cult. It's heavily implied that he had selected this group of people, because he knew that they would be the perfect victims for the cult. The group consisted of Mark, Josh, Pelle, and Christian, college students that were major jerks. 

I'm 100% sure that is why Pelle picked this group to die. 

Because they would never question why he was inviting them to the middle of nowhere, or question the need to invite Dani, a grieving woman that had lost her entire family in the beginning of the movie. 

I remember questioning this group of dudes during this specific scene, because I couldn't get over how shallow these guys were. Even though Christian wanted to dump Dani in the beginning of the movie, he still should have shown the comfort that she desperately needed. 

And his two friends, Josh and Mark, were pushing him to dump Dani, and not invite her. 

It was kind of sad to see that only Pelle seemed to really care about Dani out of the entire group. Even though he was a monster, he expressed the emotion and comfort that Dani was searching for, and she ended up becoming an easy target. If this group had actually cared about Dani, they could have prevented her fate from becoming a part of the cult. 

Plus, they could have easily prevented their fates of getting brutally murdered. 

But there is a reason why these characters were written as awful characters. 

Yes, we know that Pelle needed to sacrifice his 'friend group' to the cult and offer Dani as a new member, to make the cult happy, but I think there is another deeper reason behind why all of these events take place within the film. 

Dani's character had been surrounded by 'toxicity,' and needed to be 'free' in order to move on from her trauma. 

Christian was a bad boyfriend, who couldn't even remember her birthday, or how long they had been together. His friends were pretty awful themselves, because they only acted on their own selfish needs, like that of Christian when it came to his relationship and other actions.

The cult killing the friend group, and having Dani sacrifice her boyfriend next to the cult, was a way for her to finally move on, and gain the love and support that she always wanted. The cult knew what she had lost, and were willing to become her new family. 

Which brings me a theory that many horror fans like myself believe. 

I think Pelle murdered her family, because he wanted her to join the cult.

I'm curious to know how long it had been for Pelle to spend time with Christian and his friend group. I strongly believe that he felt sorry for Dani, when he realized that she was stuck with a bunch of toxic people. Then his intentions toward her became romantic, because in one scene while she is on drugs with the cult, he literally kisses her, hinting that he is going to choose her to become his wife. 

And I wonder if his romantic interest towards her led to his disturbing decision to murder her entire family. From the very beginning of the film, Dani calls Christian, explaining to him that she was so worried about her sister, due to her mental issues that she had experienced in the past. I feel that the sister murdering the entire family was so out of character, and Pelle knew that this would be the perfect murder setup to lure Dani to him. 

He knew that she constantly worried about her sister, and he was willing to ruin her life, to invite her to the cult, knowing that she will never go back home. He put her in a vulnerable position, so that he could give back the family she lost, in a sinister way. 

Despite Christian and his friend group being so unbearable, they did not deserve to die. And poor Dani, did not deserve to have her family taken from her in such a brutal manner. 

Pelle was the real monster, who was willing to do whatever it took to ensure that the cult would be satisfied. Both his 'selfish reasons,' and the cult's sick beliefs, are what led to so much tragedy.

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Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn