'The Shining' Ending, Explained

Stephen King adaptations are as popular as the books they are inspired by. One of the most popular is Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980), an adaptation of the novel of the same name. The Shining has gone down in history as one of the most influential and controversial horror films ever, even being connected to the new Carrie (2026).

While King didn't like the adaptation at all, it still made an impact and had audiences glued to the screen as the Torrance family watches over the Overlook Hotel over the winter as the patriarch, Jack, tries to write his novel. But we learn about the ghosts of their pasts as well as the real ghosts in the hotel.

Jack Slowly Goes Insane and Turns on His Family

One of the overarching narratives in The Shining was Jack's inability to write his novel. Though he asked for privacy, he took too much of it, often leaving his wife to do the general upkeep of the hotel that he was tasked to accomplish. All the while, he and his son were having paranormal experiences in the hotel, with Danny being unaware that he had the ability to shine and see spirits.

Jack eventually has a conversation with a bartender spirit named Lloyd, who coerces him to continue drinking. Eventually he succumbs and becomes the monster his wife and son were scared of, but now he's gone further, trying to correct his wife and son by murdering them.

The spirits of the hotel are what take the physical form of the voices in Jack's head. However, his abusive nature and drinking problems were always there long before the Overlook Hotel. In reality, the spirits that were his true enemy were the ones in the bottles he drank from.

Jack proceeds to try to end his family, completely unhinged and unable to write as the isolation, spirits, and his own inadequacy eat at him to the point that he's lost touch with reality. This forces his wife, Wendy, to finally take control of her life and fight to protect her son, and she does in great fashion.

Danny Inadvertently Ends an Iconic Stephen King Character

While Wendy initially locked Jack in a pantry, one of the spirits set him free and, with an axe, Jack went hunting for his loved ones. This also got him to target the hotel's head chef, Dick Hallorann, who Jack unfortunately killed with his axe.

Dick had the ability to shine as well and only showed up because Danny was able to telepathically communicate with him. In a way, Danny accidentally caused his death, but also Dick was such a kind person; this may have always been his fate. Dick would continue to be a part of Danny's life, as shown in the sequel, Doctor Sleep (2019).

Dick also appeared in It: Welcome to Derry (2025-) as a young soldier who used his talents to understand and stop Pennywise. While that series was a spin-off of the stories, it showed just how important the character was in King's universe. All this makes his sudden and untimely end all the more tragic in the grand scheme. Yet no matter what, Dick was always there to look out for Danny, solidifying just how great a person he was.

Jack's End Reveals a Shocking Truth About the Overlook Hotel

We all remember Jack hacking away at the bathroom door to get to Wendy and his iconic line, "Here's Johnny," but there's even more that happens around that scene and leads to a shocking conclusion. Leading up to the historic horror moment, Danny was seemingly acting possessed and saying "redrum," even writing it down, only for it to be murder backward. This inadvertently saved Wendy, who took shelter from her husband.

As he tried to get to them, Danny escaped through the bathroom window, and Wendy tried to fight off Jack; this led to Jack hunting him down in the snowy hedge maze outside, and Wendy stormed the hotel. But what she found were all of the spirits of the hotel in a horrifying image. At this point, all the ghosts shown were in different scenes and moments, but this marked the first time we saw them all together, decayed and unhinged.

Meanwhile, Danny managed to get away from Jack and reunited with his mom as they rode off in the snowcat to safety. All the while, Jack remained in the maze and froze to death. But as the film closed, we saw a picture of the hotel dated back to 1941 with Jack right in the front of a group shot. 

This brought the story full circle, as Jack was seemingly always the character, and he simply died and reincarnated, only to find his way back to the hotel. Though a story about the dangers of drinking, Kubrick took a more spiritual direction that may not have worked for King, but it still impacted horror and cinema forever.