The REAL Reason Dani Became The May Queen
Daniel Foster Midsommar crowns lead character Dani (Florence Pugh) its May Queen, but the reasons behind that are much deeper than a simple dance contest.
Midsommar crowns lead character Dani (Florence Pugh) its May Queen, but the reasons behind that are much deeper than a simple dance contest. In just two films, writer/director Ari Aster has taken the horror world by storm, at least with a certain segment of the genre fandom. Aster's films aren't content to simply startle viewers with cheap jump scares and CGI effects like a sad amount of the big studio horror produced currently. Instead, Aster's work seeks to unsettle, disturb, and creep out its audience.
An odd consequence of that though is that some horror fans don't see Aster's movies as horror, precisely because they don't hit the same standard beats as most other theatrical genre efforts. Without rampaging monsters and a scare happening every few minutes, Aster's work is seen by some as not providing what many casual horror lovers look for when they sit down in a darkened theater for a roller coaster ride of frights.
With his 2018 debut, Hereditary, Aster crafted a critically acclaimed descent into the terrors of grief, albeit with a supernatural twist. Some of those same themes reemerged in 2019's follow-up Midsommar, which centered on Dani, a woman who travels to Sweden and participates in the Harga society's odd annual rituals while still grieving the deaths of her sister and parents, ultimately earning the title of May Queen. However, we think that may not have been a coincidence.
Midsommar Theory: The REAL Reason Dani Became The May Queen
It's unclear just how much influence the Harga have over the rest of society, but Midsommar makes clear that when it's time to do their human sacrifice ritual, they send out people to make friends with outsiders and bring them back to Sweden to contribute to the body count. This shows a talent for manipulation and deception, and also for long-term planning. With that in mind, after Christian tells his friends that he's invited Dani along on the trip, Pelle seems unusually excited that she's coming along. This could be interpreted as him simply being romantically interested in her, but he's on a mission, he's not there for himself. When Dani reaches the Harga village, she's almost immediately embraced and integrated into their practices in a loving way the others don't seem to receive.
Pelle also repeatedly draws attention to Christian's failings as Dani's boyfriend, which culminates in Dani witnessing Christian's impregnation of Maja, shortly after her crowning as May Queen. While lip service is paid to keeping her away, no attempt is really made to stop Dani from seeing Christian cheating on her. This was clearly to ensure that Christian fulfilled his destined role as the final ritualistic sacrifice. Dani was destined to be the Harga's May Queen, and Christian was destined to breed and then die, and everything involving their visit to the village was orchestrated in a way that would best facilitate those outcomes.
Going even further back though, it's quite possible the Harga played a role in the murder/suicide of Dani's parents and sister. It's not clear how they did so, but the fact that there's a crown of bright yellow flowers visible in Dani's parents bedroom can't be accidental, as Midsommar director Ari Aster is a filmmaker that doesn't put anything in his frame without a purpose for its inclusion. This further points to Dani's destined path as May Queen, since losing her family removed any real attachments she had in the world outside the Harga village. We don't know what makes Dani so special, but clearly, the Harga do.
