Mr. Robot Ending Explained: Hello, Elliot

As we previously knew, Mr. Robot was the first of Elliot’s personalities to manifest. Elliot’s mind fractured after he fell from the window and Mr. Robot came into existence the moment after Elliot’s real father died before a screening of Back to the Future. Mr. Robot took on the appearance of Elliot’s father, the man who was supposed to protect him but abused him and traumatized him instead.

Next came the mother personality, the Persecutor, who represented Elliot’s belief that he was somehow responsible for his own abuse and that he had to pay for it. Then came Elliot’s younger self who emerged to process the abuse that Elliot couldn’t understand or handle. After his dissociative family was in place, Elliot’s consciousness created us, the viewers. We were created to watch, so watch we did.

Finally, right around the time the events of the series begin, the last and most powerful of Elliot’s identities emerged: The Mastermind. The Mastermind was a reaction to all of Elliot’s rage against an unfair, exploitative world. This personality also wanted to shelter Elliot so he altered his perception of his past so that his father was a friend and not a monster. Fixing Elliot’s past wasn’t enough for The Mastermind though. There are a lot of monsters out there, monsters who wear suits, control the economy, and wreak havoc on innocent people’s lives. The Mastermind donned the black hoodie to stop Evil Corp and save the world…but more importantly to save Elliot.

“You loved him so much you wanted to save the entire world so you could make it better for him no matter the cost,” Krista tells the Mastermind.

The Mastermind took full control of the being known as Elliot Alderson, sought to create a better world, and succeeded in doing so. Meanwhile, the real Elliot was safely tucked away inside a fantasy world, living out all his dreams. The real Elliot had a father and mother who loved him in this fantasy, to go along with a good job, and Angela as his bride-to-be. The one thing that the real Elliot didn’t have, however, was his sister Darlene (Carly Chaikin).

Elliot and Darlene have a special relationship. They’ve stayed together through all the terrible things that have happened to the Alderson family and to the world at large. Darlene is Elliot’s rock. When his mind begins to fail, she is the only one who can convince him that what he’s experiencing is real. That’s why Darlene can’t exist in the fantasy land that The Mastermind created for the real Elliot. If Darlene were there, she would help Elliot “wake up” from The Matrix as it were.