MovieChat Forums > Annihilation (2018) Discussion > Lena's tattoo

Lena's tattoo

posted 6 years ago by Samwise (23)
4 replies | jump to latest

Spoilers

I think this, beyond the eyes, is proof that the Lena that returned is a copy. She has an infinity tattoo on her forearm when she returns. I re-watched the film and she does not have the tattoo before entering the Shimmer. Another character, Anya, the one that goes nuts, does have this tattoo on her forearm though. Also, when Lena is standing with the duplicate and holding the grenade you can see the duplicate has this tattoo. The story she is telling is not the truth, the original Lena died, probably on the door. The duplicate used the incendiary grenades to destroy the lighthouse. Why? Who knows, beyond giving a plausible cover story it doesn't make much sense.

[–] zeesha (1780) 6 years ago

It represents the relationship between Anya and Lena - same tattoo sharing between lovers. The alien copied Anya's tattoo to Lena's forearm right after Lena had saved Anya from the alligator. Which indicates that the alien sensed Anya's feeling for Lena and started a psychological experiment - turing Anya from a lover into a murderer.

Sending Kane's replicate back is another social experiment. It failed at first because the intimate relationship requires the effort from both. When they met, no matter how friendly they pretended to show, both Lena and Kane's replicate rejected each other for obvious reasons. Yet in the end, the alien fixed Lena's self-distructive gene and made them forgiving and accepting each other. To the alien, this final result is more effective than letting two replicates accepting each other.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Nice theory

[–] Icecutter (363) 3 years ago

That's all it is a theory. The tattoo shows Lena is not the same Lena yes, just how much of the original Lena is there is left open

[–] cyguration (3946) 3 years ago

It's not even a nice theory. Anya and Lena were nothing like lovers, and weren't even friends.

Zeesha is going way out on a limb with that.

The simpler explanation within the movie's lore is that no one who enters leaves the same; inside, it takes things and rearranges them, reshaping and remolding them into something new and different.

Obviously Lena was not immune to the extra-dimensional effect of having parts of that world (and those she entered with) affecting her in some way, joining and combining with her, just like it did with everyone else who entered.

With the tattoo on Lena's arm, the movie was simply telling the audience that parts of what took place within that sphere were embedded into and melded with Lena upon her exit. It would also explain why she has a closer affinity to Kane's replicate.