Who commits the murders in The Ninth Gate?

In the underrated Polanski movie The Ninth Gate, Jonny Depp plays Corso, a dodgy antique book dealer, who is hired by Balkan, a rich collector, to verify the authenticity of a rare dark book, The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows.

In the course of his quest, Corso is impeded by Tefler, the wife of the book's original owner, who wants to retrieve it to perform some satanic rites. During the quest, there are many acts of violence and murder, but Liana Tefler's team doesn't seem capable of committing them all, nor do they have the opportunity.

So, who commits the killings and what is their purpose?

plot-explanation the-ninth-gate

Best Answer

The murders are all committed by Balkan to retrieve all the books for himself, so that he can perform the rite.

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The Ninth Gate (1999): Who Murdered Bernie?

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Answer 2

Balkan killed the two other book owners because he wanted all the engravings and he had possession of them at the end. Telfer's henchman killed Bernie looking for her copy back, he followed Corso to the book shop. Bernie was tortured but did not give up the location because it was still there when Corso found him. Balkan had no motive to kill Bernie, but Telfer did. Another theory could be that the “Girl” killed Bernie before Telfer’s henchman got to him so that Bernie did not give up the location of the book under torture. The killing of Bernie was done in a symbolic way resembling the Tarot card “The Hanged man” which symbolizes Ultimate sacrifice and surrender. This symbolism is most likely above the head of Telfer’s thug. Bernie was hanging by his right Leg not his Left (as in the LCF version) most likely signifying that his death was a physical sacrifice, not a spiritual one. Only Polanski knows for sure.

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