Here’s Baby Brian’s Fate in ‘The Changeling’ so You Can Stop Worrying About Him
The Changeling on Apple TV+, based on the novel of the same name by Victor LaValle, centers on an unspeakable act: an unraveling mother brutally murders her own baby. Or does she?
If you’re a parent, or just not that wild about infants getting killed in horrible ways, then The Changeling might seem like more stress and misery than it’s worth. But don’t worry—here’s a spoiler that will arm you with the peace of mind you need to enjoy the series.
Warning: major spoilers for The Changeling ahead!
What does Emma do in The Changeling?
In the first few episodes of The Changeling, Emma (Clark Backo) seems to slowly succumb to a mixture of exhaustion, paranoia, and postpartum depression after giving birth to Brian. She starts to get alarming text messages with photos of the baby, but the texts always disappear before she can show anyone. Even more frighteningly, she starts to get the sense that Brian isn’t actually her baby. She begins to suspect he’s been replaced by something else.
She tries to tell Apollo (LaKeith Stanfield) what’s going on, but he doesn’t believe her. Desperate, Emma finds a group of mothers who seem to understand what she’s going through. They offer her a horrifying solution to her problem: if she wants to get her real baby back, she has to kill the changeling by pouring boiling water over it. Although the act occurs off screen, it’s awful to even contemplate.
After Emma disappears, Apollo goes looking for her and finds Cal, the leader of the group that told Emma what to do. Once there, Apollo begins to realize that there was truth to Emma’s story.
Does that mean Brian is still alive? Did Emma really kill the changeling instead?
Baby Brian’s fate in the original novel
Throughout the series, we get subtle clues that Brian is a changeling. He bites Emma hard enough to draw blood, even though he has no teeth. As Emma stares at him, his face and cries seem to change into something monstrous. And then there’s Apollo’s love of a fairytale about changelings, which is a pretty pointed signal that we’re dealing with the supernatural.
The biggest sign that Brian is still alive in the series, though, is his fate in Victor LaValle’s original novel. In the book, Apollo exhumes Brian’s grave, determined to get some answers. He finds that the body that’s buried there isn’t a baby at all. It looks like a baby at first, but when Apollo looks more closely, the body becomes an inanimate bundle of hair.
Fortified with the knowledge that Emma was right and their son is alive somewhere, Apollo eventually finds Emma outside the cave of a troll. (Yes, like a real troll. Like a Lord of the Rings type of thing in New York City.) Inside the troll’s cave is baby Brian, and after a daring rescue, Apollo and Emma get him back, healthy and unharmed.
So you can breathe a sigh of relief! Baby Brian is fine. Emma doesn’t actually murder him. At least, she doesn’t in the book. The series could shake things up just to emotionally destroy us all, but so far, it’s been a pretty faithful adaptation.
But hold on! Trolls? Changelings? What’s going on here!? To get answers to those questions, you’ll have to check out the series. Trust me, it’s worth it.
(featured image: Apple TV+)
Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com
