In the Lost Lands Ending Explained: Is Boyce Dead or Alive?

The post-apocalyptic fantasy drama ‘In the Lost Lands’ follows the courageous tale of Gray Alys, a dangerous witch hired by the Queen of “the city” to bestow her with shapeshifting abilities. Alys goes to a violent hunter named Boyce to help her achieve this objective by killing a werewolf man named Sardor before the full moon. The storyline explores themes of revolution, love, and revenge, while also exploring the supernatural and creatures like Werewolves and Demons. At the end of the film, as Gray Alys and Boyce inch closer to Skull River to attack and take the abilities of the werewolf for the Queen of the City, they encounter an unusual complication and a revelation that threatens to sabotage their dangerous mission. SPOILERS AHEAD.

In the Lost Lands Plot Synopsis

In a post-apocalyptic world where human beings are restricted to living under a tyrannical leader dubbed “The Overlord,” the story begins with the execution of Gray Alys, a witch, who is to be hanged under the command of an enforcer named Ash and her Church followers. The magical woman cleverly uses her magic to deceive a soldier of the Church of the Overlord into aiding her escape. However, Ash quickly retaliates by killing the man and then leads a group of men in pursuit of Alys. A hunter in the City called Boyce fights off an ambush from a group of thieves, displaying his extraordinary skills.

The Queen, the wife of the Overlord, visits Gray Alys with Jerais, a trusted soldier. She seeks the witch’s help to secure a werewolf’s power and gain shapeshifting abilities by the next full moon, which is approaching in seven days. She provides coins and orders Gray Alys to slay the creature and extract its power forcibly. Unbeknownst to the Queen, Jerais undermines this effort, convinced that its failure will benefit her. The protagonist employs her abilities to locate a shapeshifter by entering its mind. It is revealed that the Queen resents her husband, while Boyce is approached by the witch to aid her in the task of finding Sardor, the man known as the “Grey Wolf.”

Ash secretly works with a senior member of the church called the Patriarch to depose the Overlord. Before Alys and Boyce leave the City, it is revealed that he has an affair with the Queen herself. The Patriarch intends to achieve his political goals by exposing the involvement of the Queen with the hiring of a witch, a practice that’s illegal. Gray Alys and Boyce venture into the “Lost Lands,” a hellscape beyond the urban boundaries, and aim to reach Skull River, the home of the werewolf. When Ash comes hunting for the two lead characters with a group of soldiers, the witch uses her supernatural abilities of eye contact (akin to a Jedi mind trick) to save herself and Boyce.

The protagonists continue their journey, fighting demons on the way and developing an unlikely friendship. In the City, the Queen kills the Overlord while revealing that she’s pregnant with Boyce’s child. As the Patriarch continues to conspire against the royal family, Ash meets her end attempting to chase down Gray Alys on a train on a broken track. Jerais slays the Patriarch to protect the Queen, who is also his lover. Boyce and Gray Alys continue their journey, traversing through dangerous territories to somehow reach the Skull River area before the end of the full moon.

In the Lost Lands Ending: How Did Boyce Resurrect?

Boyce goes on a treacherous journey with Gray Alys to find and take the abilities of the werewolf named Sardor. He risks his own life for the mission, all the while warning Alys that her target won’t be easy to handle and will likely lead to her death. However, Alys desperately wants to find the werewolf and insists on going all the way to Skull River to keep her word to the Queen. However, in a shocking twist, it is revealed that the witch knew there was no entity called Sardor at Skull River, and the dangerous werewolf is none other than Boyce himself. Alys manages to not only kill Boyce in his werewolf form, but also skins the animal alive, taking the pelt to give to the Queen.

Upon returning to the City, the witch orders Jerais to give the wolf skin to the Queen and tells him to instruct her to cut herself and drip her blood on the pelt and wear it before the end of the lunar cycle. When the royal woman receives the pelt, she refuses to wear it after finding out that her lover Boyce was murdered. Amidst the chaos of the popular uprising in the City, night gives way to daylight, and as the first rays of the sun touch the pelt, it vanishes into the air as fire particles. These remnants of Boyce’s spirit (akin to a Horcrux from Harry Potter), which remained intact in the wolf’s fur, travel all the way to the grave of Boyce, hidden beneath the skulls, leading to his resurrection.

Due to the cosmic connection between a werewolf and light, and the containment of the soul within the fur, the hunter comes back to life, despite being skinned alive by Gray Alys. In ways similar to how Lord Voldemort stays alive for major parts of the ‘Harry Potter’ storyline, Boyce, too, has a soulful and supernatural connection with his wolf form, which brings him back to life. Another important reason that brought the hunter back to life was the fact that the Queen refused to make a connection with the pelt by dripping her blood on it, allowing Boyce to keep his soul intact and come back to life at the break of dawn.

Why Did Boyce and Gray Alys Unite?

Boyce and Gray Alys have a complicated relationship throughout the narrative. They meet in desperate times and go on a dangerous journey together. They move back and forth between trust and betrayal, as they come close to the dreaded Skull River to find Sardur, the werewolf. The lead characters exhibit a sense of belongingness and unity as they move from one fight to the next. At Skull River, Alys fights and injures Boyce after revealing that she knew the truth about him being a werewolf. As she strikes his werewolf form down using her silver claws, illusions, and her fighting abilities, the injured hunter rests on the ground, staring death in the face in his human form.

Boyce tells her that despite her wanting to kill him, he wants to be with her forever and go fighting and hunting with her, till the end of his life. The witch agrees to be with him, but says that she wants something in return as well, and then proceeds to kill him, due to her plans to overthrow the regime of the Overlord. In a shocking twist, Boyce comes back to life as foreseen by Gray Alys and vengefully heads to the City to kill her. In the final moments of reckoning, he confronts Alys and comes close to killing her.

The witch narrates to him that she knew about him and the Queen from the beginning, and the reason behind the royal woman asking for shapeshifting abilities was to be with him as a partner and a fellow supernatural beast. The witch explains that she had foreseen the Queen’s selfishness and desires, which led to a popular uprising in the City. Furthermore, she tells him that she definitely knew about his resurrection. After hearing her story, Boyce attempts to fight Alys, but as they come close to each other, she tells him, smilingly, that this is exactly what he wished for before she killed him at Skull River, that is to fight together and stay together.

Boyce realizes that he has a rather inexplicable, yet powerful bond with Gray Alys, something that’s beyond love and companionship, but a spiritual bond between two magical souls. He proceeds to ride off with her into the sunset, completing their tale of vengeance with an act of love. The loneliness of both the characters and the fact that they shared spiritual similarities draws them closer, uniting them in a potentially immortal magical bond.

Why Did Gray Alys Skin Boyce Alive?

Gray Alys discreetly knew about Boyce’s truth throughout their journey to Skull River to find Sardor. She reveals to Boyce that she knew about his truth and proceeds to fight him to the death. Using her illusions, fighting skills, and silver claws as weapons, she manages to strike the beast down. Instead of killing the werewolf form of Boyce in other ways, she chooses to skin him alive brutally, and drag his blood-soaked pelt to the City as proof of her successful mission to the Queen. The truth behind her brutal act is revealed when the first rays of sunlight hit the wolf akin, and Boyce comes back to life.

Gray Alys purposely skinned the beast alive because she had foreseen his resurrection. The only way she could ensure his survival was by taking the skin of the beast and giving it to the Queen via Jerais. Her sense of bonding with Boyce also meant that she would never have been able to actually kill him for good, especially given the fact that he risked his own life for hers in key battles, like the confrontation with the demons. She hoped to be with him, but didn’t find the heart to tell him before she could ensure that the revolution in the City happened and the dynasty of the Overlord was ended.

Skinning him alive was the only way the witch could ensure that his blood stayed with the force of his soul till the completion of the mission. Despite falling in love with Boyce based on mutual attraction and shared experiences, Gray Alys puts the revolution and the well-being of the people first, ensuring that the Church of the Overlord ceases to exist. Her sacrifice and strong will are spiritually rewarded, and the skin of the beast proves to be strong enough to give Boyce his life back and a chance to be with the witch he loves.

Why Did The Queen Kill Jerais?

The Queen trusts Jerais to be a loyal soldier from the beginning of the storyline. She sends Gray Alys on the mission to give her shapeshifting abilities and allow her to lead a life with Boyce. Unbeknownst to her, Jerais secretly strives to put an end to her desires even before Alys proceeds with the mission. The soldier gives Gary Alys a timepiece to ensure that she does not give the Queen shapeshifting abilities, due to his love for her. He hopes to never see the woman he loves as a beast. The soldier goes to the extent of killing the scheming influential man known as the Patriarch to ensure that the Queen reigns over the City after killing her husband, the Overlord.

Jerais starts an affair with the royal woman after the end of the Patriarch, without realizing that she is pregnant with Boyce’s child. Gray Alys gives the bloody wolf skin to Jerais and instructs him to tell the Queen to drip her own blood on it and become a werewolf before the lunar cycle ends. Jerais tells the witch that he never wanted his lover to become a beast and demands his timepiece (a watch he had given to Alys as payment to sabotage the mission) back. However, in a shocking twist, the Queen cries profusely seeing the skin of her dead lover and expresses her desire to be with him.

Jerais tells his lover that Boyce was a beast who didn’t deserve to be loved by a woman like her. In her moment of despair, the royal woman accuses Jerais of betraying her trust by sabotaging the witch’s werewolf mission and being a conspirator in the death of her beloved Boyce. In a fit of rage, she proceeds to kill him by stabbing him violently. She is overwhelmed by the scenario, and despite Jerais’ desire to protect her from harm, she kills him, due to her obsession with Boyce.