Aníkúlápó: Rise of the Spectre sees Saro and Queen Arolake starting afresh separately, but they cannot run from their pasts for long. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
The series continues the story from where Aníkúlápó left off. Saro finds himself in the land of the dead, but he is unable to cross over to the other side.
Saro is told that he owes a debt to Akala, whose power he used to resurrect twenty people. Saro must now eliminate all those resurrected in order to settle his debt.
If Saro fails to repay his debt, he will become a lost soul, wandering around for all eternity without finding a resting place.
Heaven’s gatekeeper gives Saro an amulet that will aid him in his mission, and Saro returns to the realm of the living.
Saro realizes that he is invisible to humans, which allows him to easily kill those he previously resurrected. After killing three people, he meets an old woman.
The woman is blind, but she is the only one who can see him. The woman tells him what he must do to become visible to humans around him, so Saro does not kill her.
He follows her instructions and becomes human again. However, he now has the ghosts of the three people he killed following him.
Only Saro can take these ghosts to Heaven. Saro is not yet ready to die, so he pleads with them to let him live a little longer.
The ghosts agree to give him three years. Saro is given the freedom to do as he pleases during those years, after which he will be required to accompany the ghosts to the afterlife.
The ghosts also provide Saro with high-quality palm wine, enabling him to establish his own business. Saro’s wine soon competes with that of the town’s palm wine tapper, Karounwi.
On top of that, Saro seduces Karounwi’s daughter, Olatorera, who ends up marrying him against her father’s wishes. Saro is enjoying life to the fullest, but his time among the living is limited.
Meanwhile, Fasogbon informs the King of Oyo that the kingdom is suffering from misfortune because Akala seeks vengeance.
The Oracle advises that Queen Arolake should be brought back to Oyo to perform rituals and offer sacrifices to appease Akala.
When the King does not pay heed to his warnings, Fasogbon discusses the matter with Bashorun, one of the King’s chiefs whose son is set to marry Princess Omowunmi.
Bashorun is frustrated because his requests for military funding have been denied. He is ready to oppose the King if necessary.
He wishes to be prepared in case of war with a rival kingdom called Ede, which has become powerful since Prince Kuranga started overseeing Ede and its surrounding provinces.
When he hears about the Oracle’s instructions, he questions the bounty hunter, Adigun, who reported Arolake’s death to the King a few years ago.
The King had stopped looking for Arolake and Saro only because Adigun claimed to have witnessed her death.
It turns out that while looking for Arolake and Saro, Adigun lost his life and was resurrected by Saro, who also generously compensated him.
Due to that, Adigun lied to the King, but the truth comes to light when Bashorun questions him, resulting in the King resuming the search for Arolake and Saro.
Now that Bashorun is aware of Saro’s ability to resurrect the dead, he desires to possess Saro’s power for himself. He then threatens Adigun to find Saro at any cost.
Since leaving Saro, Arolake has been journeying alone. One day, she meets a group of travelers, among whom is a man named Akin.
Akin is forced to leave Arolake behind, and that night, in the forest, Arolake encounters strange creatures. One of them gives her a pouch full of precious beads.
The next morning, Akin comes back for her and takes her to live at his sister’s house. When Arolake checks the contents of the pouch, she realizes that it is a source of endless wealth.
With time, Akin falls in love with Arolake, but, after her experiences with Saro, Arolake no longer believes in love and is determined not to repeat past mistakes.
When Akin learns that the King has placed a bounty on Arolake’s head, he suggests that she leave for a while, but Arolake is tired of running.
Apart from purchasing a large house for herself and Akin, she takes steps to ensure her safety, including hiring guards. Arolake also devises a plan to win the King’s favor.
She sends him lavish gifts through Akin, who presents Arolake as an extraordinarily beautiful woman without revealing her identity to entice the King.
Everything goes according to Arolake’s plan, and she succeeds in securing a private audience with the King.
During the meeting, she reveals her true identity to him and persuades him that she never betrayed him; instead, she fled to save her own life because the other queens falsely accused her.
Arolake now desires to return to the palace. To please the King, she promises to give him her wealth and sleeps with him.
This upsets Akin, leading to a falling out with Arolake and his decision to go on a journey.
It is then that Bashorun finds Arolake, but he cannot harm her at the moment, as she holds the King’s favor. He promises to make her beg for mercy very soon.
At the same time, Olatorera figures out that the ghosts are bothering her husband and goes to discuss the matter with her mother, Awarun.
Awarun, previously Saro’s mistress, is now Bashorun’s mistress. Awarun tries to protect Olatorera, who is pregnant with Saro’s child, but she fails.
Once Awarun comes to know that Saro is alive and married to her daughter, it is only a matter of time before Bashorun finds out about it, much to Awarun’s distress.
Ending explained:
Kuranga’s death
When Prince Kuranga visits Oyo, he falls for Omowunmi’s beauty and asks for her hand in marriage.
Although Omowunmi is set to marry Bashorun’s son, Awolaran, her love for him is purely platonic, as they have grown up together.
The King decides to arrange Omowunmi’s marriage to Kuranga, much to Bashorun’s dismay and Awolaran’s heartbreak.
To resolve the situation, Bashorun proposes a public duel between Awolaran and Kuranga for Omowunmi’s hand in marriage; the winner will marry her.
Bashorun wants Awolaran to cheat, but Awolaran is nothing like his father. He does not cheat even when Kuranga beats him black and blue, leaving him humiliated.
Awolaran ends up running away from the fight, disappointing his father. As a result, Kuranga gets to marry Omowunmi.
However, on Omowunmi and Kuranga’s wedding night, Bashorun has Karunga killed, risking a potential war between Oyo and Ede.
Bashorun’s greed and ruthlessness
The news of Kuranga’s death spreads to the people of Ede, prompting them to come to Oyo. The King’s chiefs attempt to deceive them into believing that Kuranga is alive.
Fasogbon blames the King, who did not follow the Oracle’s instructions, for the misfortune. He also reveals to all the chiefs that the King has been secretly meeting Arolake.
At the same time, Adigun finds and kidnaps Saro, whose business is now suffering due to his limited time remaining in the realm of the living.
When Adigun brings Saro to Bashorun, he sees this as an opportunity to get all the power, influence, and wealth he wants.
Bashorun tells the King that he will prevent the war between Oyo and Ede by bringing Kuranga back to life, but the King must publicly punish Arolake for her past crimes.
Bashorun takes Saro’s amulet, kills Adigun, and asks Saro to bring him back to life, unaware that Saro no longer has that power.
Arolake is arrested and brought to the prison where Saro is kept. The two of them reunite after a long time, and Saro apologizes to Arolake for his past mistakes.
Bashorun then forces Saro to resurrect Kuranga, and Saro turns to the ghosts for help. The ghosts agree to help him once again.
When Saro pretends to use his amulet to resurrect Kuranga, a ghost possesses Kuranga’s body, convincing Bashorun that Saro’s abilities are tied to the amulet.
He takes the amulet from Saro and allows him to leave unharmed. However, the ghost leaves Kuranga’s body after reaching Ede, where he dies once again.
Bashorun’s downfall
Now that Bashorun has acquired Saro’s powers, he wants Arolake’s wealth. Even when Arolake gives him her magical pouch, he does not let her go.
On the day of Arolake’s public execution, the warriors of Ede attack Bashorun, as they have heard rumors about Bashorun being responsible for Kuranga’s death.
Bashorun is killed, whereas Arolake is taken to Awolaran. It is revealed that Awolaran, ashamed of his father’s actions, joined forces with Akin to rescue Arolake.
While Awolaran and Omowunmi had reconciled after Kuranga’s resurrection, their future as a couple seems bleak when Omowunmi is kidnapped by the warriors and taken to Ede.
Arolake gets her pouch back and is allowed to leave with Akin. Arolake is exhausted because of her never-ending troubles, but she has Akin by her side.
Once again, Akin suggests that they sell their house and move away, and this time, Arolake does not oppose him.
Saro’s fate
That night, Saro visits Arolake in her dreams. He tells her that he has been following her for some time now, fearing what Bashorun might do.
Saro reveals that he is going to die soon. He now knows that he cannot cheat death, so he has accepted his fate.
Saro is glad to have met Arolake again, even though he was not supposed to do that. He is being called back, but he has one last request.
He tells Arolake about his wife and son and asks her to take care of them. He also promises to answer Arolake whenever she calls on him.
As soon as Saro leaves, Arolake wakes up and pays a visit to Olatorera and her baby. She intends to fulfill Saro’s last wish.
However, it is not Saro who is seen leading the ghosts towards the gates of Heaven. As Bashorun has the amulet, he leads the skeptical ghosts as they question his ability to cross over.
Also Read: Aníkúlápó ending explained: Does Saro die in the end?