**Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for The White Lotus Season 3 finale. Reader discretion is advised.**
HBO's The White Lotus Season 3, titled Amor Fati, finally aired, and the mysteries of the current season reached their pinnacle. There were many deaths, but Rick and Chelsea's were the most tragic ones.
Amor Fati is a Latin term meaning 'love of fate,' which Chelsea even explains to her boyfriend Rick at breakfast. She explains that the Amor Fati philosophy lets you escape the pain and suffering of life by urging you to embrace your fate with open arms. Both Rick and Chelsea embrace their respective fates in the finale, which leads to their final escape.
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche described Amor Fati as:
“Only great pain is the ultimate liberator of the spirit,”
The finale truly justified the title, and Rick and Chelsea's deaths are tied to it as they embrace their fates, ultimately leading to the liberation of their spirits, and they finally get together in the end.
More on Amor Fati in The White Lotus Season 3 in our story.
Chelsea explained Amor Fati in The White Lotus Season 3 finale, foreshadowing her tragic fate
While Rick was finally at peace after his bitter confrontation with Jim Hollinger, his moments were limited in number. Since his introduction in Season 3, or rather since his mother's death, Rick has never experienced true peace because of the truth about his father's death gnawing at his heart.
After his confrontation, he returned to his girlfriend Chelsea in Thailand, and they embraced at the beach. This probably also marked Rick's first actual and genuine affection toward Chelsea, and even Saxon was envious of their bond.
At breakfast, while Chelsea and Rick are discussing the events of the past, she mentions the title of The White Lotus Season 3 finale, Amor Fati, saying:
“I was never too worried, because amor fati. It means you have to embrace your fate, good or bad...Whatever will be will be.''
This conversation pretty much summed up Chelsea's fate in the finale, hinting that she would be one of the characters dying in Season 3. Her mentioning Amor Fati also has a deeper meaning of embracing one's fate, as she calls it, because she embraced her fate with Rick.
While she had multiple occasions to leave Rick and form a connection with Saxon, she chose to stay with Rick and literally followed him on a path to violence when he decided to shoot Jim Hollinger.
Since Chelsea chooses to embrace her fate, good or bad, with Rick, she finally meets her end, thus bringing the philosophy full circle. Acceptance somehow frees you of life, as it did to Chelsea, and she gets to be with Rick forever, who also dies soon after her.
Rick could not escape the Amor Fati philosophy in The White Lotus Season 3
While Rick seems to have gotten his peace, it is disrupted when Jim arrives on his last day and reveals that his mother was a liar. The newly content Rick is again restless, aggravated by Jim's accusations.
In a heated moment, he leaves Chelsea at the breakfast table and follows Jim Hollinger, where he fatally shoots him to death. Sobbing on his dying husband, Sritala reveals that Jim was his real father, but it is too late, and he has already embraced his fate.
Chelsea could not escape her fate and leave Rick, and neither could he escape his fate and stop his pursuit of truth. He finally embraces it all and takes a shot at Jim, something that he has wanted to do for so long. Whatever will be finally came to be in The White Lotus Season 3 finale.
Later, as he carries a dying Chelsea in his arms and says,
“We’re going to be together forever, just like you said!”
Gaitok kills him, showing that Chelsea's words from earlier are ringing true:
''And at this point, we’re linked. If a bad thing happens to you, it happens to me. I think we’re going to be together forever.''
Thus, Amor Fati comes full circle, with Rick and Chelsea embracing their respective fates and thus being together forever, just as Chelsea wanted.
Also Read: The White Lotus Season 3 finale recap and ending explained
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