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| “ | Are these the May Queens? | „ |
| ~ Dani to Pelle. |
Dani Ardor is the main protagonist of the 2019 folk horror film Midsommar.
A college undergraduate, Dani is the girlfriend of Christian Hughes, and their relationship is distant and toxic before her sister commits a murder-suicide. Traveling to Sweden with Christian and his friends, Dani attempts to improve her relationship with Christian and make friends to get over her trauma. However, Dani becomes further traumatized when witnessing the brutal traditions of the Hårga and Christian's behavior and adultery. She is crowned the "May Queen" by The Hårga and eventually accepts them as her family after having Christian sacrificed.
She was portrayed by Florence Pugh, who also voiced Goldilocks in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
Personality[]
Mental illness was a powerful detriment in Dani's family, with her suffering from chronic anxiety, depression, and potentially borderline personality disorder, and her sister having intense schizophrenia that ultimately drove her to murder their parents and herself. Dani was emotionally vulnerable and needy, which was a factor in why her relationship with Christian was so toxic, as he had narcissistic personality disorder and moderate sociopathy, and was unwilling and incapable of providing the emotional support she needed at the best of times, let alone during traumatic grief. Despite the dysfunction of their relationship, neither ended it due to Christian being indifferent and Dani having severe codependency issues.
Dani was emotionally vulnerable, hence why she was a perfect target for the cult - they pretended to fill that void she had from despair and loneliness, twisting her into following their rituals one by one, until escalating into "allowing" her to choose the final sacrifice. Each step of the indoctrination was designed to make her feel a sense of belonging she had always craved, while subtly altering her moral codes, and her desperation and malleability made her unaware that it was all a manipulation. Upon being crowned the May Queen, she became a murderer by proxy, not dissimilar to her sister who committed murder due to a psychological and emotional instability, thus she had become the very kind of demented individual that had caused her so much anguish; arguably, she had this realization before her mind completely snapped at the end, with her mania evident in a mindless smile in spite of previously sobbing at the inferno that killed sacrificial humans.
Biography[]
Background[]
Before the events of the film, Dani Ardor was the sister to Theresa/Terri, who suffered from depression and presumably had suicidal tendencies. While watching over her sister with her parents, Dani began a romantic relationship with Christian Hughes. The relationship between the two became distant, and slowly turned toxic due to Christian gaslighting her on several occasions. Christian's friends, Mark and Josh, also didn't like Dani for unknown reasons, and wanted Christian to end their relationship.
Midsommar[]
Before the events in Sweden, Dani's sister Terri commits a murder suicide, killing herself and their parents via car exhaust. Dani becomes traumatized and distraught after the event, further straining her relationship with her boyfriend, Christian Hughes, who is emotionally distant and wants to end their relationship. The following summer, Dani still deals with the death of her family, and learns that Christian and his friends, Mark and Josh are going to Sweden with their friend Pelle, who has invited them to attend a midsummer celebration.
Dani wasn't informed of the trip, and Christian reluctantly allows her to come, much to Mark and Josh's annoyance. There, Dani's trauma reaches a high point, as the cult makes her drink psychedelics, and she later participates in the maypole competition. Dani wins the competition and is crowned the May Queen, and later sees Christian having sex with Maja. Dani suffers from another panic attack upon this discovery, but is comforted by the Hårga women as they wail with her in empathy.
Towards the final act of the film, the pagan cult makes the decision to sacrifice four individuals, who will all die from being burned in the yellow building seen throughout the film. Among the four is Christian. Before the group proceeds with the killings, they ask Dani whether or not they should sacrifice Christian. Although hesitant, she ultimately agrees to go forward with this after seeing him have sex with Maja, having become bitter and heartbroken.
Christian is stuffed into a disemboweled bear and placed in the designated temple, alongside the still-living Ingemar, a second villager, and the ritualistically prepared corpses of Josh, Mark, Simon, Connie, and the two elders. The temple is burned in an effort to purge the cult's evil. As the cult celebrates the completion of their ritual, Dani sobs in horror, but gradually begins to smile an increasingly demented grin.
Quotes[]
| “ | You have to eat the herring. Why? |
„ |
| ~ A villager and Dani on eating Swedish food. |
| “ | Why would Simon leave without her? | „ |
| ~ Dani to the group on why Simon would leave Connie behind. |
Trivia[]
- The surname Ardor is a noun, meaning a zealous or excited transitory state, foreshadowing the climax of the film.
- Dani's actress, Florence Pugh, received critical acclaim, and was nominated for her performance.
- There was an interpretation that her condemning Christian to die was an inversion of the Medieval practice of Christians - his namesake - burning pagans.
See Also[]
- Dani Ardor on Wikipedia.
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 Villains
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