Elodie In ‘Damsel’ Explained: Did The Princess Kill The Dragon?

Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Damsel is the story of a young lady who was pushed towards her own doom but still refused to surrender to her circumstances. It’s a story of how the young princess fought against the odds and made sure that she overcame death when nobody had any hope that she could do so. So, let’s find out what sort of conflict Elodie finds herself in and how she faces the challenges and overcomes all the barriers.

Spoiler Alert

What made Lady Bayford warn Elodie? 

Lord Bayford knew that there was a scarcity of resources in his kingdom, and he needed to do something to save his own people. People were dying of hunger, the crime rate was at an all-time high, there was utter chaos on the streets, and Lord Bayford hoped for a miracle to happen. One day, a red priestess came to Lord Bayford with a message from the Queen of Aurea. She informed Lord Bayford that the Queen of Aurea wanted to get her son, Henry, married to Elodie. Both Lord and Lady Bayford couldn’t believe that they had gotten an offer for marriage from one of the wealthiest kingdoms. They immediately asked both Elodie and Floria to pack their bags, and they left for the kingdom of Aurea to meet Queen Isabelle. Lady Bayford was Elodie’s stepmother, but she loved her as her own daughter. Lady Bayford was very excited, and she was hopeful that she could strike a chord with Isabelle as now they were a part of the same family. Queen Isabelle had a conversation with Lord Bayford, and after that, suddenly, he became all grim, and it was like he was feeling extremely guilty for some unknown reason. He didn’t tell anybody what the conversation was with the Queen, but Lady Bayford knew that something wasn’t right. Lady Bayford tried having a conversation with Queen Isabelle, and the latter replied very rudely to her and told her that she didn’t want to mingle with her. Queen Isabelle made it very clear that she looked at the matrimonial alliance as a deal where the Bayfords got money in exchange for giving their daughter to Henry. Lady Bayford knew that they were getting a lot of money, but still, she wanted to maintain the sanctity of marriage, and she felt that she ought to have a friendly relationship with the people she was sending her daughter to. Lady Bayford came rushing to Elodie’s room that day, and she told her she was having second thoughts about the marriage. Elodie never felt emotionally attached to her stepmother (at least till that point in time, Damsel), but the earnestness with which she spoke at that moment moved Elodie. Elodie knew that Lady Bayford’s instincts were not wrong, but before she could do anything, she got married to Henry, and she was left to face her own doom.

What did Elodie find inside the cave? 

It all came crashing down upon the poor damsel when she realized what Queen Isabelle’s real intentions were. Their plan was to sacrifice Elodie and two more girls after that so that the Aurea kingdom could thrive. There was a dragon hiding behind the darkness of the cave which had been wronged by Henry’s forefathers back in the day when they had arrived on the island for the first time. The dragon had given birth to three babies, and the king mercilessly killed all of them. The dragon burned the soldiers alive, and he made a deal with the king wherein the latter had to sacrifice three daughters from every generation if they wanted to stop the dragon from wreaking havoc. Queen Isabelle had found a way to fool the dragon. She got these young girls from far-off lands and then mixed royal blood with theirs so that the dragon could assume that the girls were the real daughters and not the brides-to-be. Elodie was horrified when she was pushed into the cave, but she was still not ready to surrender. She found out the secrets hidden in that deep, dark abyss. She got to know that before her, many poor women were thrown into the pit. She saw their names written on the wall, and that’s when a sudden surge of energy made Elodie decide that she was not going to meet a similar fate. The dragon went after her, and Elodie kept hiding in the narrow tunnels, and somehow, she managed to keep herself alive. The girl kept hitting one dead-end after another, but she didn’t give up, and she knew that she would come out of the cave no matter what. 

Was Elodie able to save her sister? 

Elodie’s father came looking for her, as on his way back, he felt guilty about pushing his own daughter to her doom. He felt like an unworthy man, and moreover, the fact that his little damsel trusted him more than anybody else haunted him. Lord Bayford sacrificed his own life so that his girl could escape from that god-forsaken cave. Elodie was able to save her life and come out of the cave, but there was a twist in the proceedings that changed everything. Queen Isabelle had gotten to know that Elodie had escaped, so she forcibly took Floria with her, performed the ritual, and pushed her into the cave. When Elodie learned about it, she didn’t even think for a moment, and she told Lady Bayford that she was going back to bring her sister. Elodie’s resilience and courage could be judged by the fact that even after she knew the kind of danger she was putting her life in, she was ready to make the sacrifice for her sister. At the end of Damsel, like a true warrior, Elodie stood in front of the dragon, and she was able to achieve the impossible. Elodie saved her sister, and she took her out of the cave. 

Why didn’t Elodie kill the dragon? 

The dragon got severely injured, and it was about to die when Elodie put the magically illuminated larvae on its body. Elodie realized that the dragon was not wrong on its part, as anybody would have wanted revenge in that scenario. She told the dragon that, though she understood its pain, it had been fooled by the Queen, as they were not the daughters of the family. Elodie had followed everybody’s orders up until that time, but now she wanted to do things according to her own will. She decided that she was not going to kill the dragon but would use it to fulfill her own agenda. Elodie wanted Queen Isabelle to pay for her sins, and she knew that now she could do that since she had a powerful ally alongside her. The shadow of death was cast upon the royal family as the ferocious beast loomed in the sky. The dragon burned Queen Isabelle alive and then accompanied Elodie back to her kingdom. I believe the three ladies i.e., Elodie, Floria, and Lady Bayford, were more than capable of leading their people, facing conflicts, and procuring resources, and there’s no denying that the kingdom was going to thrive in the times to come.