Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Weapons!

Zach Cregger’s Weapons is filled with intriguing characters, but it’s Aunt Gladys’ presence that proves to be the most mysterious and important. Ahead of the release of the film, there were all kinds of theories regarding what the new horror movie was actually about and what happened to the missing kids.

While much of the story focuses on Justine and Archer, with Marcus, James, and Paul getting smaller focuses, it’s ultimately Alex and his aunt, Gladys, who become the key figures in Weapons‘ ending. While Aunt Gladys is revealed to be at the center of the film’s story, she has left many fans scratching their heads.

Much like the main villain of Barbarian, Gladys enters the film and completely changes its tone, with her campy nature clashing with the otherwise grounded feel. She steals every scene she’s in throughout the second half of the movie, but there is still a lot that we don’t know about her before her Weapons death.

There are several major questions still left about who she is, what she can do, and what she wants by the time the movie ends. And while they make up many of Weapon‘s unanswered questions, a deeper dive into what the movie reveals about her can provide some clarity.

Who Is Aunt Gladys Really?

The first details about Aunt Gladys aren’t really revealed until the Marcus section of the story, in which the school principal sets up a meeting to check on the welfare of Alex Lilly, the only member of Justine Gandy’s class who didn’t disappear. After stalking him, Justine is worried that something is wrong with the young boy.

Neither of Alex’s parents attended the meeting with Marcus. Instead, Gladys appears. She says that she is Alex’s aunt and that she has come to live with the Lilly family due to Alex’s parents falling ill. She ᴀssures Marcus that nothing is wrong with Alex, and she then leaves the meeting. She doesn’t appear again until she shows up at Marcus’s door, where she uses magic to make Marcus kill his husband.

The Alex segment gives even more details. Before appearing, we hear Alex’s mother talk about Gladys, saying that her mom’s sister is coming to stay with them for a bit. Alex’s mom isn’t even sure that she’s met Gladys before, but she says they’re going to take care of her because that’s what her mom – Gladys’ sister – would have done if she were still around.

Instead of Gladys being Alex’s aunt, she is actually his great aunt. Very little about her backstory is revealed beyond suggestions that she is sick and probably will not live much longer. This leads the Lilly family to believe she won’t be staying with them very long.

Before any more information is provided or any interaction between Gladys and Alex’s parents can be shown, she uses her powers to take control of them. Gladys seems to be a witch or some sort of magic user, but the Lillys were not aware of this before her arrival.

She tells Alex not to tell anyone about her existence or what she’s doing, meaning that nobody in their community knows about her outside the Lillys. This creates more uncertainty about whether Aunt Gladys is who she claims to be at all, especially since the movie doesn’t show her and the parents interacting at all before they’re under her spell.

How Aunt Gladys’ Magic & Ritual Works

The rules of Aunt Gladys’ magic are never explicitly explained, but they can be pieced together from her actions in the movie. Gladys has the ability to control people after putting them in a trance through her witchcraft. She can then give them targets to attack with the controlled ones running after them mindlessly until the targets are killed.

Gladys simply needs an object that they own to start controlling them. When she controls Marcus, she uses the ribbons from his office. When she controls the children from Justine’s class, she uses the labels from their bins. Once under her control, they will do anything she says, ranging from stabbing themselves in the face with forks to cutting hair.

Next, Gladys has to give them a target. To do this, she must steal a lock of the target’s hair. This is why she has Alex’s mom cut Justine’s hair, and why she pulls the hair off Marcus’ husband before killing him. She then wraps the hair around a branch from her weird plant and pricks her finger on a thorn. Once she breaks the branch, the individuals under her control will kill their targets.

But the trance state can be activated before an attack is ordered through the use of Gladys’ bell. Ringing the handheld bell is what puts Marcus under her spell. The triangle and six that are etched in the bell are not explained, but they are seemingly magical markings to help enchant her tools.

Another important rule is that dropping the stick in water stops the controlled individuals from attacking. She can also control individuals as a collective, which is demonstrated when she mixes all of the children’s bin labels in a bowl. Then, they all attack as a group, which is why they kill Gladys when Alex wraps a hair from her wig around a branch.

Aunt Gladys’ Plan In Weapons Explained

Through these means, Gladys plans to cure whatever sickness is ailing her. The nature of this disease isn’t revealed, but it has taken a toll on her body. So, she has to figure out a way to reverse it.

Gladys seems to be stealing the life energy of the people she controls, rejuvenating herself while they are under her spell. Gladys initially does this with just Alex’s parents, but this isn’t enough. That’s why she makes Alex bring his 17 classmates, hoping that this will do the trick.

This looks as if it is working at first, as Gladys does look slightly better after putting the children in her basement. However, complications quickly arise thanks to the publicity of the missing children. People keep coming to the Lilly home to investigate, causing Gladys to have to take action.

Gladys takes control of Paul and James after they appear. She then realizes that Justine is investigating, causing her to send Marcus after her. When Justine and Archer show up, she has Paul and James attack them and sends Alex’s parents after Alex. Luckily, Alex gets control of the kids and makes them attack Gladys.

Upon Gladys’ death, everyone is freed from her spell. Narration explains that it took a while before some of the kids started to talk again, meaning that Gladys’ control does have lasting effects. However, when her plan is foiled at the end of Weapons, a path back to normalcy is at least revealed for the affected families.