Brokeback Mountain: Details of the Ending Explained!

By Jaslin Last updated Jan 11, 2023

Brokeback Mountain’s finale lets everyone decide what love is. Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal), two young men who met at Brokeback Mountain, have a deep emotional and sexual relationship and struggle as a gay pair in a straight world.

The film is a rom-com, yet its ending is a heartbreak. Then you consider love and how much you should risk for it. Though the movie’s finale is subjective and the viewer can build their own headcanons, everything that happens has a deeper meaning. The “Jack, I swear—” moment and Ennis and Jack’s bloody clothing in the closet all had a purpose.

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Brokeback Mountain’s End

Jack blamed Ennis for their unhappy marriage, which led to a confrontation. Ennis later told Jack about his father taking him to watch a gay guy killed in public. The memories haunted him, and they decided they couldn’t continue their affair.

Long after this breakup, Ennis sent Jack a postcard that was returned with a “DECEASED” stamp. Ennis called Jack’s wife Lauren (Anne Hathaway), distraught. Lauren tells him Jack died in a tire accident. Jack would die in public. Many think the moment took place in Ennis’s imagination, as he imagines his darkest nightmare coming true, but I’m convinced it didn’t.

Three men killed Jack for being gay. Laureen told Ennis that Jack wanted his ashes spread near Brokeback Mountain, where they met. Thought Brokeback Mountain was near his hometown. Jack might imagine a place with bluebirds and a whisky spring.

Laureen to Ennis on their call. After Ennis told her the truth, they sat awkwardly. Laureen discovered that Ennis had been Jack’s lover all these years, while Ennis agonized over his lover’s death. Brokeback mountain—Ennis finds his old shirt.

In the film’s finale, Ennis seeks to acquire Jack’s ashes from his parents to disperse atop Brokeback Mountain. Jack’s father is nasty and homophobic. Ennis’s mother takes him to Jack’s room to weep. Ennis finds his bloody shirt from their previous battle inside Jack’s.

Brokeback Mountain Shirt Meanings?

Jack stored Ennis’s garment in his closet. Ennis and Jack never had the chance, but the jerseys were permanently linked. After losing Jack’s ashes, Ennis only had those garments. This heartbreaking moment brought home Jack’s death. I cried into my pillow. Ennis saw the shirts and realized that if he hadn’t been afraid, he could have lived with Jack. By the time he realized how much he needed Jack, Jack was dead.

What’s “Jack, I Swear…”?

Ennis easily drapes his and Jack’s garment on a wire. He says, “Jack, I swear—” before the credits roll. Being cut off from such a key moment left me puzzled and hard to comprehend that the movie could end like that, but maybe that was the goal: to make us feel like Ennis did when he realized Jack had died.

Jack, swear. Though I loathed that at the time, I admire their inventive choices. The movie’s “Jack, I swear…” interpretation is wonderful too. Ennis was dealing with his life regrets. The audience decides what Ennis truly said.

You might believe he said, “Jack, I swear I’ve loved you like the sun loves Brokeback Mountain,” or that he promised to live life fearlessly like Jack always advised him. Both are correct. I suppose that’s Brokeback Mountain’s beauty.

Brokeback Mountain: Ending Details!

Brokeback Mountain is fiction. The 1997 Annie Proulx short story of the same name inspired the film. Annie was inspired to write the book by witnessing “guys in bars who exclusively gazed at other males,” which made her think about ranch hands who might be gay.

Brokeback Mountain

The 2005 Neo-Western romantic drama Brokeback Mountain is based on the 1997 short tale. Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams feature in the Ang Lee-directed, Diana Ossana-produced film.

During a summer work at Brokeback Mountain, cowboys Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) create an intense sexual and emotional relationship. The two are in love, but marrying their girlfriends complicates things.