How/Why did Tyler Durden got shot in the head?

How/Why did Tyler Durden got shot in the head? - Red Rose Bouquet Beside White Ceramic Figurine

From the movie Fight Club, in the ending scene we can see the narrator shoot himself in the mouth asking Tyler to "really listen to him"...

The question is How/Why did Tyler got shot in the head when the narrator himself shot in the mouth? It could have been somewhere else and not the head, right?

Is this just because the Narrator "really" wanted Tyler to listen to him and die?

Since Tyler is just a hallucination, we know that Tyler dies when narrator mind accepts his death. The narrator can't do this on his own, since he needs Tyler's permission to do so (otherwise why would he ask Tyler to listen to him?). Now, if he really wanted Tyler to die, he could have shot Tyler directly and imagined his death, which would have lead to the end of Tyler.

Is this shooting scene in the significance of "Fight Club" where the narrator wanted to shoot himself just with the spirit of hurting himself? Does this indicate that Narrator and Tyler became one at the end?

Was that shot really needed to kill Tyler? What would have happened if Tyler also got shot in his mouth and was alive instead of getting shot in his head?

I have attempted the plot-explanation, but I watched the movie only once long back... I would be glad if someone can expand this/ explain this even better.



Best Answer

The purpose of the end scene of the movie is to have the Narrator finally conquer his 'problems' in the form of killing Tyler.

He cannot simply shoot at him as he is just a hallucination of his own mind and the bullet would just fly off into nothing. While before beating him up would have worked, it was just a physical representation of a mental battle. By bringing in an actual object into the fray, his attempts at Tyler's life are pointless.

We see the Narrator finally realize that he has been in control all along and this is why he is presented able to take the gun from Tyler, because he is the one actually holding the gun.

It is then he realizes that he must follow Tyler's own advice and "hit bottom". Only by doing so, is he able to control his own body and "kill" Tyler. To hit bottom he realizes he must do something life-threatening and plain insane.

Whereas the bullet only blew a hole in his cheek, it was his mental F--- You to Tyler, showing him that he can take care of himself now, which is why the bullet is shown to have gone through the back of Tyler's head, killing him.




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What does Tyler suffer from in Fight Club?

The character is an insomniac with a split personality, and is depicted as an unnamed everyman (credited in the film as "the Narrator") during the day, who becomes the chaotic and charismatic Tyler Durden at night during periods of insomnia.

Is Tyler Durden figment of imagination?

The big twist is that Tyler is actually not real. He's a figment of The Narrator's imagination. When the movie first came out in 1999 this was a shock to audiences. But if you rewatch the film, you will see that director David Fincher hid a bunch of clues throughout the film that actually gave away the ending.

Where did The Narrator shoot himself in Fight Club?

He shot himself in the cheek, the back of tyler's head is gone.



The Bizarre Ending Of Fight Club Explained




More answers regarding how/Why did Tyler Durden got shot in the head?

Answer 2

In that scene, Tyler's perspective is as follows:

He sees The Narrator put a gun in his mouth, which means that if The Narrator pulls the trigger, Tyler would believe he would die as he would believe The Narrator would die.

The reason why it works:

Before The Narrator pulls the trigger, he says "Tyler, my eyes are open". The significance of this is that The Narrator sees Tyler watching himself pull the trigger. In The Narrator's eyes, Tyler dies so that Tyler can never return in his mind. He needed to 'see' Tyler die, so that Tyler cannot come back. What Tyler didn't see is that the bullet did not go through his brain allowing The Narrator to survive. This is the only way The Narrator could 'kill' Tyler. By tricking Tyler and his own subconscious, he needed to 'see' it happen, otherwise Tyler wouldn't be dead.

Mind blowingly clever.

Answer 3

The hole in Tyler's head is just showing the narrators total rejection of Tyler. It's less about the actual shooting and more about the fact that he maned up and became what Tyler was there for. He saw Tyler as a problem. The act of him shooting himself is what got rid of Tyler ( his total rejection of Tyler). He no longer had a need for that personality anymore because he was now able to handle his own life.

Answer 4

Even when the Narrator was in control he couldn't have had shot Tyler directly because he would have imagined killing somebody else. He had to imagine he was killing himself in order for Tyler to believe he was dead.

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Images: Karolina Grabowska, Ron Lach, Kowal Tyler, Liviu Gorincioi