- Jul 27, 2020
- 6 min read

32 Fascinating 'Midsommar' Details Spotted By Eagle-Eyed Fans

Midsommar is the kind of movie you need to watch more than once. Director Ari Aster baked in so many Easter eggs, small details, and elements of foreshadowing, you'll likely notice something new upon every viewing. I know I have. For example, a tapestry in the beginning of the movie shows all of the gnarly traditions and sacrifices to come.

I could watch this work of art a million times - but you won't have to just to see the Easter eggs. To save you the time, we've gathered some of the most interesting and memorable Midsommar details, courtesy of subreddit r/Midsommar and Twitter.

1. Appearances by Dani's late family

To confirm it is Dani's sister in that scene, you can see the actress who played Terri, Klaudia Csányi, shared an image in that costume to Instagram.

2. Dani's bedroom features a painting with a bear and a girl in a crown

3. Importance of a Hargan saying "welcome home" to Dani

4. Later appearances by Dani's sister

5. Major foreshadowing

6. Character links to The Wizard of Oz

Posted by Redditor u/HeroIsAGirlsName:

Ari Aster has also described it as "Wizard of Oz for perverts," so presumably in that case, it's Mark as Scarecrow (no brains), Josh as the Tin Man (no heart), Christian as the Cowardly Lion (no courage), and Pelle as the wizard, controlling everything behind the scenes. Note that Mark's skin is stuffed with straw, Josh's foot is cut off (in the Oz book, the Tin Man was a woodcutter who slowly lost pieces of himself to axe accidents and replaced them with tin, beginning with his foot), and the cowardly lion's costume resembles the bear suit.

Posted by Redditor u/Micaharnstrom:

A lot of parallels can be made between the two films. Another I thought of is their “walk to Harga,” as they march through the forest in a path of yellow flowers/yellow brick road.

7. Foreshadowing that Dani will become May Queen

8. The meaning of the rune on Josh's foot

9. Why there weren't translations for the Swedish parts

10. Pelle's reward for bringing his friends to Midsommar

11. The meaning of the runes on Dani's dress

12. Simon's fate foreshadowed

Posted by Redditor u/Lil-Xeno:

Turns out what happened to Simon is like an actual medieval form of torture/execution. I can't remember its actual name, but I saw a video on it recently, and was surprised how much Ari Aster does research for his films, because he don’t just make s**t up!

Posted by Redditor u/shandelion:

Yep - they feature a blood eagle scene in the show Vikings as well.

Posted by Redditor u/RawObjectification:

That’s the Blood Eagle, my dude. You’re late to the party, but, you’re right. Its historical legitimacy is still debated; same for the Attestupa. Nevertheless, it was a brutal compliment to the scope of Midsommar as folk horror. There is no way that Simon could still be breathing. His body would have gone into shock from the pain of having his rib cage split from his spinal column. And, his organs would long have gangrened from being exposed to the air like that.

Posted by Redditor u/arya_of_winterfell:

In the movie, you can see Simon’s lungs pumping ever so slightly when Christian finds him in the shack. This would imply that Simon is indeed “alive” at that point, but probably closer to death than life.

13. The meaning behind Dani's nightmare

Posted by Redditor u/comicstew:

And Mark's laughter really sums up how dismissive they have all been to her grief, and how ashamed she herself feels as a result. She has to run and hide any time emotions rise up in her, because none of those dimwits seems to recall her entire family was killed five minutes before they took the trip. Josh knows about the suicide ritual at the beginning of the movie, and still chooses not to warn Dani, which is especially insensitive, considering how deeply suicide has directly affected her life. She even asks him, "Is it scary?" but he's too consumed with being a pompous know-it-all to be empathetic. I think the dream really nails her fears of abandonment, how lonely and unseen she is in the presence of these a-holes, and her unresolved horror about the way she lost her family.

14. Christian seems transfixed by wallpaper featuring a bear on fire

15. Ingemar's creepy smile

16. A closer look at Josh's notes

Posted by Redditor u/Sleepy_pirate:

You just made me realize that Josh immediately knew what the hair meant, and was just letting it unfold so he could watch.

Posted by Redditor u/visijared:

Yeah that's what I was thinking, too. It was almost like he was trying to determine if inbreeding is how they make their holiest people, then the opposite of that would be... ?

17. Dani exhaling black smoke in her nightmare

18. Dani's smile at the end of the movie

19. Symbolism behind Inga's dress

Posted by Redditor u/Rnahafahik:

Why? The cult clearly planned that, and no one really finds out about what happened to Mark, besides what she says. Why would she be shamed? Genuine question by the way, if you can back up your argument, I would be very curious.

Posted by Redditor u/teaqualizer:

It's not my argument. It's a common theory. But being made to cover her hair and wear red a phallus certainly suggests she was being shamed. Plus the elders seemed genuinely disturbed to find out Mark had gone off with Inga.

The bottom line is we don't know exactly what happened with Mark and Inga. She may have been complicit in what happened to him... But I don't think she'd be made to wear a red phallus as a sign of a job well done. She doesn't look particularly pleased or proud.

20. Foreshadowing Mark's fate

21. The Wizard of Oz Easter eggs

22. The use of daylight

Posted by Redditor u/deathtothemods:

Also, I don't know if this interpretation interests you at all, but because the Harga are depicted as a cult-like conglomeration (if not just a straight up cult), I see countless symbols of cult brand brainwashing. Flowers are one major symbol of brainwashing in literature and film in our culture, as is bright lighting/ sunlight. So, to add to your observation of the metaphor of Dani's mental health, she is deliberately made to feel "good and fine and free," through very deliberate brainwashing of the cult, who now control her mind and newborn identity.

Posted by Redditor u/embee33:

For me, it’s that bit where they’re all confused about what day it is. Combined with the immediate dose of hallucinogens, and the use of them throughout the film, the constant daylight is a disorienting factor, and makes the characters lose the “outside world” right from the start. This makes it easier for them to begin to engage in behaviors that the outside world wouldn’t consider normal.

23. The importance of cultural differences

24. A possible homage to The Shining

25. The importance of the bear

26. Dani's Ativan

27. The importance of the mushroom trips

Posted by Redditor u/darlingcthulhu:

They’re on shrooms basically the entire time from there (more or less) and to me it shows Dani's journey. When she first takes them, she’s disconnected from her friends and boyfriend. She feels out of place in the world, and is in a negative mind frame, which affects any trip anyway. Then, as the film progresses, and she finds her place in the cult, where she is accepted, and they grieve with her, she finally feels part of a family again, and the trips become more beautiful and positive.

Posted by Redditor u/imaminxkitty:

What I gathered from this scene was that when Dani sees the small bit of grass on her hand, it foreshadows her adapting to the cult (who believes that their life cycle returns to the earth), without realizing it. In addition to that, after she is crowned May queen, the flower crown on her head starts breathing to indicate that she is now living as a part of the cult, because she is taking part in their traditions. Finally, by the end, she is fully enveloped by the flowery dress she is wearing to indicate that's she's been fully immersed into the cult. I think this says a lot about overcoming grief and adapting over time, or "acclimating" as Christian called it.

28. The baby crying