What actually happens
Naru wants to hunt, and a mountain lion gets there first
In 1719 on the Great Plains, Naru is a Comanche healer in training who wants to be a hunter like her brother Taabe. While she is out tracking deer, she sees strange lights in the sky and decides they are a Thunderbird, which she takes as a sign she is ready. They are actually a Predator dropship. Soon afterward a mountain lion takes a member of the tribe, Puhi, and Naru uses her tracking skills to help a search party led by Taabe. They find Puhi alive but wounded, and most of the party takes him home. Taabe, Naru and Paake stay behind to trap the lion, which kills Paake. Naru faces the lion herself, but odd noises and lights far off pull her attention away, and the lion knocks her out.
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The Predator turns up at the bear's worst moment
Naru wakes up at home. Taabe carried her back, then went out and killed the lion, which earned him the title of War Chief. Naru is convinced something worse is out in the woods, so she leaves with her dog Sarii. She falls into a bog and gets out with a narrow escape, then runs into a grizzly bear. The bear is attacked and killed by the Predator, which lets her get away. Soon after she meets a search party of Comanche men sent after her. Naru calls the Predator a Mupitsi, and it ambushes the men and kills them. As she runs, her foot lands in a foothold trap.
The French trappers plan to capture a Predator
The trap belongs to French voyageurs, who cage Naru and Sarii. Their interpreter, Raphael Adolini, questions her about the Predator, which the Frenchmen have met before. She refuses to talk, so the lead voyageur shows her that Taabe is a captive as well. By morning the Frenchmen have tied both siblings up as bait, but the Predator ignores them and kills most of the Frenchmen. During the fight Taabe and Naru free themselves and split up, and Naru rescues Sarii and sends him to find Taabe. Raphael has dragged himself back to camp and shows Naru how to fire his flintlock pistol if she will treat his severed leg. The herbs she gives him lower his body heat, which makes him invisible to the Predator. Later it steps on him by accident and kills him.
Taabe makes a stand on horseback
Taabe returns with Sarii and takes on the Predator from horseback. Naru watches the fight and notices that the Predator aims its spears using its mask. Taabe wounds it several times, but it kills him, though not before he buys Naru enough time to run. This is the scene people brace for, it comes late in the movie, and Taabe does not survive it. Naru tracks down the lead voyageur, who is still alive, and makes him her bait for the Predator. She eats the herbs to hide her body heat, ambushes it with Raphael's pistol and takes its mask.
The ending, explained
Naru takes the mask and positions it to face the bog where she was trapped earlier. She fights the Predator and leads it into the bog, where it gets stuck. The Predator shoots at Naru, but the mask steers the shot back and it hits the Predator in the head. Naru cuts off its head and smears her face with its glowing green blood, then carries the head back to her village, where she is named the new War Chief. She tells her tribe that it is time to move. Taabe, Paake, Raphael and the Comanche men sent after her are dead, and Naru survives. During the credits, a series of ledger art paintings retells the story and ends with three Predator vessels descending toward the tribe.
The post-credits ruling
Yes, during the credits a series of ledger art paintings retells the story and ends with three Predator vessels descending toward the tribe.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Prey scary?
Somewhat. Prey is a 4 out of 10 with low dread, a few mild jump scares and several animal attacks, and it plays mostly as an action story.
How does Prey end?
Naru lures the Predator into a bog and its own mask guides its spear back into its head. In Prey she carries the head home and her village names her the new War Chief.
Does the dog die in Prey?
No dog dies in Prey. Sarii is caged by French trappers, rescued by Naru, and returns with Taabe for the horseback fight. Other animals do die, including a grizzly bear and a mountain lion.
Is there a post-credits scene in Prey?
Yes. During the Prey credits, a series of ledger art paintings retells the story and ends with three Predator vessels descending toward the tribe.
How does Naru beat the Predator in Prey?
She hides her body heat with herbs, takes its mask and uses the bog to trap it. When the Predator fires its spear gun at her, the mask steers the shot back into its head.
