Aahana Swrup
The Filipino horror mystery series ‘Balaraw: Blood Island’ follows a daughter’s search for her mother, which devolves into a life-threatening adventure. After Rebecca disappeared out of the blue, her daughter, Sabina, becomes obsessed with following her tracks and finding her again. Three years after the disappearance, the young woman finally finds a clue that points toward the Babang Yawa, a region in the ocean full of mystery and intrigue.
Despite the rumors surrounding the location of perpetually lost airplanes and boats, Sabina decides to set course for Babang Yawa. Her girlfriend, Bulak, and her godfather, Police Captain Arturo, join her on this expedition. Eventually, the trio arrives on the shores of Balaraw, an island detached from the outside world. Alongside a curious population of islanders, the place also houses many secrets, including certain creatures that roam the woods and the key to unraveling Sabina’s enigmatic family history. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Balaraw Blood Island Recap
Recently, Sabina has been plagued with dreams of a man stuck on an island where he is being held prisoner by the local tribal community. Every night, she watches him try to escape, only to inevitably get dragged back into his cage. Her mother, Rebecca, seems troubled by these dreams until, on the morning of her daughter’s first day as a medical intern, she eventually skips town without warning. Three years later, Sabina is no closer to finding her mother, despite spending a fortune on private investigators. Her luck changes when one PI returns with footage of Rebecca at a bus stop, heading for a coastal town. More importantly, he informs the daughter that the local police had access to this information but wiped all records as part of a cover-up. This leads to a confrontation between her and Arturo, who insists that Rebecca doesn’t want to be found.
As a result, Sabina ends up breaking into the law enforcement officer’s house to retrieve her mother’s file. Consequently, she learns about Babang Yawa, the place that had likely been her mother’s destination all those years ago. Initially, when she decides to follow this trail, she tries to undertake the journey on her own. Nonetheless, her girlfriend, Bulak, refuses to leave her alone and follows her. Once at the coastal town, the couple has a hard time booking a boat to take them to Babang Yawa due to the horror stories surrounding the location. However, Arturo shows up and negotiates a deal with the sailor. In the open water, it doesn’t take long for their ship to become engulfed in an unnatural storm that washes the passengers ashore on an unknown island.
From the get-go, Sabina gets separated from the others. When she ventures further into the island, she finds the cage from her dreams, housing multiple prisoners. Although she’s put in the same cage after getting caught, she’s eventually taken to the island’s leader, Ramon Cardomas. The older man claims to have known Rebecca and reveals that he believes he is Sabina’s biological father. He also tells her that her mother has only recently left the settlement on a mission to find a clean drinking water source. Until her return, Ramon encourages the younger woman to stay at his family’s house. Meanwhile, Bulak and Arturo run into an older woman who warns them against getting caught by the locals. This leads them to seek shelter in the woods, where they find a cave. Although the leader assures Sabina that if his men find her friends, they will be brought to the village, Bulak and Arturo end up getting attacked by the islanders upon discovery.
Around the same time, Sabina begins to realize that Ramon is lying about her mother’s stay at his house. Yet, when she tries to set out to find Rebecca and the others, the leader insists on accompanying her on the search along with his brothers and their guards. Back in the forest, Bulak and Arturo are rescued by a hooded warrior, who reveals herself to be Rebecca. She reveals that she had come to the island to save her brother, Vedasto, the subject of her daughter’s nightmares. Alternatively, Sabina’s time in the forest brings strange visions and voices in her head, which lead her to believe the island might be alive. Yet, the real revelation arrives when one of the men in Ramon’s search party ends up fatally hurt. That night, the islanders have a ceremony for the departed, wherein they cannibalize his body in a ritual led by their leader. Thus, Sabina realizes something on the island is deeply wrong and that she must get away from her alleged father as soon as possible.
Balaraw Blood Island Ending: Does Sabina Leave the Island? Why Did the Creature Follow Her?
The reality about the cannibalistic practices on the island arrives as the final nail in the coffin that convinces Sabina she’s in active danger at Balaraw. Therefore, her priorities shift from simply finding her mother to also ensuring everyone’s escape. Meanwhile, Rebecca and the others also concoct a plan to the same end. The mother has an existing history with the island from previously being washed ashore some 20 years ago. Back then, she had also mistaken the nature of the Cardomas’ leadership on the island. Although she had been able to escape, her brother, Vedasto, hadn’t been so lucky. The fact that she had been able to escape from the island before gave her confidence that she could do it again. Her faith was further strengthened by the fact that the boat she had arrived on three years ago had made it to the shore in one piece. Thus, she had hidden it on the side of the island, farthest from the local village.
Now, Rebecca plans to use this same boat to return home with Sabina and the others. Her first plan of action includes rescuing her daughter from the Cardomas. Unfortunately, her plan goes south and leads to the capture of Arturo and Bulak. Yet, the daughter manages to escape with the help of Diwa, one of the servants. Once in the woods, she reunites with her mother, who appears to be gravely injured. While the duo tries to lay low and reach the shore, Sabina feels the pull of the island, which takes her into the hollow of a giant tree trunk. Inside, she’s tormented by voices and visions until she is rescued by the old woman named Tela. In her company, the daughter finally learns the entire truth about the island.
Tela believes that the island isn’t pleased with this development. Much like Sabina, she also thinks that the island is a living thing with wants, needs, and desires. Her stories help the younger woman realize that the voices she had heard in the tree trunk hollow were the island’s way of communicating with her. It had told her that in order to gain one’s freedom, one must sacrifice oneself. Consequently, later, once she and Rebecca manage to bring everyone to the shore, the daughter tries to stay behind. She believes that in order for them to have a successful journey out of Balaraw, a sacrifice must be made, and she’s ready to pay the price. Nonetheless, in the end, her mother convinces her otherwise. Thus, Sabina and Bulak leave the island on the boat.
Although we never see the couple reach dry land again, it can be assumed that their escape was a success. This is because of the conversation that takes place between a group of strange men, who talk about the mysteries of Babang Yawa and how only one family of women has been able to escape it. Their time together is interrupted by the unpleasant arrival of a winged creature. Thus, it seems that when the island allowed Sabina and Bulak’s escape, it also inadvertently left room open for one of its native horrors to slip away. As it stands, it’s unclear who this monster is and why it followed the couple off the island. It’s possible that the winged creature might be post-transformation Diwa. Nevertheless, there’s no concrete evidence that confirms or denies this theory. Ultimately, regardless of its identity, the creature’s presence in the city alone spells out trouble, as it confirms that the chaos of the island has breached past its boundaries.
Why Does Rebecca Stay Back on the Island?
Rebecca’s venture into the island had always been a reckless endeavor. When she first found the place in the early 2000s, it was because she, Vedasto, and their friends were on a mission to study the mysterious Babang Yawa area. Once on the island, they met the Cardomas brothers and soon learned of the horrifying ritual of cannibalism they had introduced into the community. This is what compelled Rebecca to escape from the island the first time. There’s something deeply strange about the nature of her escape. Instead of a boat or any other vessel, she had jumped into the ocean with nothing but her faith. Even so, the waves had brought her away from the island and to the safety of a faraway boat.
Comparatively, the Cardomas brothers had tried to sail away from the island multiple times, but the waves never moved in their favor and always brought them back to shore. This means that some sort of outside force must have aided and abetted Rebecca’s escape. The mother and her daughter both believe the force in question is the will of the island itself. According to Tela’s story about Balaraw’s history, the island was uninhabited until one woman washed ashore all on her own. She became the mother of the first few people who eventually went on to populate the island with their descendants. Tela believes that Rebecca and her daughter have something in common with the woman who arrived on the island all those generations ago.
Much like the woman was tasked with populating the island, Balaraw has some purpose for Rebecca and her daughter as well. For the same reason, it first allowed her to leave before luring her back in by sending prophetic dreams to Sabina. Now that both women have made it to the island, it will only allow one of them to leave, while the other must stay behind to fulfill their yet-unknown purpose. This is why the daughter volunteers to stay behind in the first place. Nonetheless, the mother could never allow Sabina to make such a sacrifice. Therefore, in the end, she’s the one who decides to stay behind. She’s accompanied by her brother, Vedasto, who has been changed by his imprisonment on the island and could never have returned to his old life anyway. Together, the two venture into the tree trunk hollow, where they confront the heart of Balaraw.
Who is Sabina’s Father?
One of the show’s core mysteries stems from Sabina’s parentage. She has never known her father or heard much about him from her mother. Initially, Ramon asserts himself in this role, confident that he is the father of Rebecca’s child. Nonetheless, this doesn’t necessarily have to be true. Rebecca’s pregnancy was a strange affair that developed after her arrival on the island. Although she only stayed around for a few weeks, in that time, she fell into a brief romance with Ramon. This came to an end once she realized the reality of his rule over the islanders. Consequently, she tried to run away and stumbled across the hollow of the tree trunk, where she underwent a hallucinatory experience.
When she emerged on the other side, she was in a strange state of sickness. Afterward, Rebecca jumped off a cliff and ended up in the sea, where she was discovered by some sailors who brought her back to town. At the hospital, she discovered that she was pregnant with a child. Given the timeline, it’s possible that Ramon is the father of this baby. However, there’s another angle to consider. In Tela’s tale about Balaraw, she talks about a woman who gave birth to the very first people who inhabited the island. This raises the question of how the woman could have reproduced if she was a sole castaway.
The implication is clear: the island itself somehow reproduced with the woman to populate itself with more humans. This would also explain why these humans in particular have the genetic disorder that causes them to transform into winged beasts after dying or sustaining an injury beyond recovery. Regardless, the story strongly suggests that, much like the first woman on the island, Rebecca’s pregnancy was also a result of unnatural intervention. This would make Sabina the daughter of the island itself. Perhaps this connection is the reason why she was able to receive her visions in the first place and also why she has a connection to the place.
Read More: Where is Balaraw: Blood Island Filmed?
