The Prestige ending explained: The fate of Borden and Angier, explored

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Christopher Nolan's The Prestige. Reader discretion is advised.

“Now you’re looking for the secret, but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled," says Michael Caine's character through a voice-over.

It foreshadows what The Prestige reveals. This Christopher Nolan film explores our relationship with truth and deception. It presents an elaborate set of events through an unreliable narrator and keeps us puzzled till the very end.

That's a part of its charm. It follows the logic of a magic trick. We end up believing something is true because we want to believe—even if we're very well aware of an underlying deception. That's why this Nolan film ignites passionate discussions across social media even two decades after its release.

Since you're here to understand what happened at the end of The Prestige, let's discuss the same. The ending shows Borden killing Angier and gaining custody of his daughter. Borden admits that Fallon is his twin brother, who gets framed for Angier's death and dies while in custody. However, that doesn't explain everything, does it? Let's break it down a bit further.

What happens between Borden and Angier in The Prestige?

Christopher Nolan's psychological thriller revolves around two magicians who are sociologically and philosophically at odds with each other. Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) belongs to the working class. He is passionate about his craft and strives to invent something new. However, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) is not driven by the same hunger.

The two magicians keep trying to one-up each other, especially after Borden is accused of killing Angier's wife during a magic trick. Borden claims that he did not commit the crime, but it anyway sours their relationship. Soon, Angier sees Borden's Transported Man trick and recreates it with a duplicate, but Borden exposes him.

So, Angier meets Tesla (David Bowie) to fetch a cloning machine that can help him deliver the same trick. While Angier rises to the new heights of success, Borden is left with his young daughter after his wife takes her own life. In that mental state, he hopes to one-up Angier again. Instead, he gets tricked into getting arrested for Angier's murder.

What's the deal with Borden and Fallon?

Christian Bale in The Prestige (Image via YouTube/@RottenTomatoesCLASSICTRAILERS)

Bernard Fallon (Bale), whom Borden hires as his assistant engineer, is actually his twin brother. They used to switch sides during the Transported Man trick. It also explains why the person Angier accused of killing his wife refutes that blame—since that was a different person than who tied the knot.

Borden was married to Sarah (Rebecca Hall), while Fallon was in a relationship with Olivia (Scarlett Johansson). In the end, Fallon gets imprisoned for Angier's murder from the magic trick. Then, Borden shows up at Angier's theater in Fallon's disguise. He shoots Angier for what he did to Fallon.

Who is Lord Caldlow and how is he connected to Angier?

Huge Jackman and Scarlett Johansson in The Prestige (Image via YouTube/@RottenTomatoesCLASSICTRAILERS)

Lord Caldlow is Angier's true aristocratic identity, who shows up at the prison after Borden/Fallon gets arrested for the murder. However, his trickery does not work in his favor after all.

The final moments in The Prestige show Cutter (Michael Caine) burning down Angier's theater, which includes all the clones from his magic trick, dead in water tanks.