The Gryphon summary and ending explained

The Gryphon (Der Greif) follows sixteen-year-old Mark. To save his brother, Mark must travel to a different world that is ruled by a dangerous creature. The series is now streaming on Prime Video.

Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers

Plot summary

In 1984, in Krefelden, a man named Karl takes his two sons, Thomas and Mark, to burn his research in order to prevent anyone from discovering a world known as the Black Tower. The man ends up losing his life in the fire, and everyone believes that he killed himself.

Years later, Thomas and Mark own a music store, Oracle Records. When Mark turns 16, Thomas gives him a book, the Chronicle, which has been passed down through generations in their family. Thomas asks Mark to read and sign it.

The book contains information collected by their family about the Black Tower, a world ruled by a dangerous creature called the Gryphon that can control stone objects in the world of humans. Only the members of their family can kill the Gryphon.

Mark is still getting treated by his physiatrist, Dr. Peters, because he witnessed his father’s painful death years ago. He has anger issues, and he even harms himself when his anger gets out of hand. Dr. Peters’ daughter, Becky, moves to Krefelden, and Mark starts liking her the moment he lays eyes on her.

When Mark reads the Chronicle, he accidentally teleports himself to the Black Tower. He returns home safely and tells Dr. Peters about it, who dismisses the incident as a hallucination. 

Mark does not believe in the existence of the Black Tower. Similarly, his mother also did not believe his father. She still thinks that his father was mentally ill and killed himself. Since Thomas believes that the Black Tower exists, his mother sent him to a psychiatric facility in the past, which caused a rift between them.

To prove that the Black Tower exists, Thomas takes Mark to the cemetery where their father died. The brothers find an instrument called the Lot that Karl had hidden there. The Lot is the only weapon that can be used against the Gryphon, and Karl left it behind for Mark; it responds to Mark’s blood.

The brothers are attacked by a stone statue, and another statue defends them. Mark and Thomas fall asleep, and in the morning, Mark finds Thomas gone. Mark tries to find his brother and accidentally teleports himself to the Black Tower.

He meets Thomas there, who concludes that Mark is the Traveler between Worlds, that is, he has the power to teleport to a place by focusing on it. The brothers are attacked by stone creatures called the slave hunters that hunt humans in the Black Tower and turn them into slaves that mine stone all day.

Thomas gets captured by them, but Mark escapes. He goes back home and tells everything that he knows to Becky as well as Memo, an employee at Oracle Records who does not get along with Mark. 

Initially, he fails to prove that the Black Tower truly exists to the two of them, but later, he convinces Memo to help him bring Thomas back. They manage to find the portal that connects the world of humans to the Black Tower and get to the Black Tower. Mark teleports himself home, but Memo gets trapped there, as the portal closes.

Mark comes up with a plan to rescue Memo. He gets Becky to help him. He decides to go to the Black Tower and instructs Becky to open the portal the next day to let him and Memo return to this world. Becky agrees, and the two of them finally kiss.

Once Mark leaves, Becky starts doubting everything that he has told her, so she shows the Chronicle to Sara, her friend, and Ben, Sara’s boyfriend. They try to experiment with a flower called the night terror and the portal to see if Mark was telling the truth, but the results suggest that none of it is real.

Mark finds Memo, who has lost his limp in the Black Tower. Mark also comes to know that time passes much quicker in this world. When they are cornered by the slave hunters, Mark manages to teleport them both to his room.

When Mark meets Becky, she tells him that they need to take a break, as Mark is mentally ill and by believing him, she enables his delusions. Becky also gives the Chronicle to Dr. Peters, who tells Mark’s mother, Petra, that his condition is worse than he assumed. 

Petra decides to admit Mark to the same facility where Thomas was treated. Mark and Memo have plans to return to the Black Tower to rescue Thomas, but Mark is stopped by a team of psychiatrists. A man, whose face is hidden, comes to their rescue and injures the psychiatrists, even killing one of them.

Everyone thinks that Mark killed them, but it is revealed that it was Dr. Peters who did it. He, along with a man named Koteas, is one of the Gryphon’s spies in the human world. They are creatures that can taste thoughts and are known as Man-Iths.

Unbeknownst to Becky, the night terror bloomed and a monster came out of it. The monster attacks Becky, but she manages to kill it. Becky now realizes that Mark was telling the truth all along. She meets Petra and the detective, who is handling the murder case, to convince them about the same.

Mark and Memo live in a hut in the Black Tower that Memo built, but nothing goes as planned, as the Gryphon has been spying on them and playing mind games with them.

Becky takes Petra and the detective to Ben’s party to get the Chronicle from Ben. There, another night terror blooms, and the monster that comes out of it attacks and injures people, including Ben’s friend, Maya.

Petra and the detective manage to kill the monster, and Dr. Peters arrives there to change the monster to a wolf, but this makes the detective and Petra even more suspicious. The detective tells Petra about Karl’s death and how he just vanished from the fire.

Petra never found out about this because it was covered up by the police. The public prosecutor on the case did not look human to the detective, and the detective was suspended for pulling out his gun on him. The most suspicious thing is that no one remembers this incident.

The two then go to Becky’s house and take her away, much to Dr. Peters’ chagrin. On the other hand, Mark gets better at teleporting because he uses his love for Becky to teleport. Mark and Memo catch a Man-Ith and are able to escape the slave hunters who come to capture them. They then make a new plan to save Thomas.

The Gryphon ending explained in detail:

What does the Gryphon want?

According to Mark and Memo’s plan, Mark will get to Thomas and teleport him to the human world. Since he cannot teleport Memo at the same time, Memo will go to the portal and wait for Mark to open it from the other side.

Thomas is kept away from the other slaves. While Memo distracts the slave hunters, Mark manages to sneak into the tent where Thomas is being held captive. However, he realizes a little too late that the place is covered in tar mud, which prevents Mark from using his powers.

This was done to capture Mark because the Gryphon wants Mark’s power. If it succeeds, it will be able to get out of the Black Tower and teleport to different worlds to capture them. 

Why does the Gryphon reveal himself?

Thomas and Mark are able to break out of prison with the help of the Lot. Meanwhile, Memo never makes it to the portal, as he is caught by the slave hunters. He fights them and loses his fingers, but eventually, he finds Mark and Thomas.

Mark kills a slave hunter with the Lot. When Memo arrives there, the three of them move towards the portal. The Gryphon hears about their escape and finally steps out to fight Mark himself.

Does Mark rescue Thomas?

The brothers, along with Memo, reach the portal, but they start fighting over the Lot. Mark believes that the Black Tower has changed Thomas and refuses to give the Lot to him.

The Gryphon comes there at that moment and possesses Thomas. He digs his claws into Thomas and speaks through him. The Gryphon provokes Mark to fight him, and Mark almost loses his temper, but a vision of his father stops him in time. 

Karl explains to Mark that he cannot fight hatred with hatred. Mark then claims that he is not going to fight the Gryphon, which enrages it. At that moment, Petra, Becky, and the detective reach the portal, and Petra figures out how to open it.

They drag an injured Memo through the portal. Mark then cuts the Gryphon’s arm that has been holding Thomas, and Becky comes to aid him to bring Thomas back to their world. Seeing her sons safe, Petra closes the portal before the Gryphon could follow them.

What happens after Mark’s return?

When Mark and Thomas recover in the hospital, Petra apologizes to them for not believing them. The detective assures Petra that he is going to take care of the murder charges against Mark.

Mark also visits Memo in his hospital room. Now, Mark not only likes him but also calls him his best friend. Furthermore, Ben does not want to be with Sara anymore, as he thinks she ditched him again.

The doctors cannot do anything to save Maya, so Ben takes matters into his own hands. He takes her to the Black Tower, where good people get healed. However, as soon as he gets there, the portal closes behind them

Koteas pukes an egg, and a new Man-Ith is born. It kills Dr. Peters, as he failed to accomplish the task given to him, and takes his place as Dr. Peters. 

Additionally, the Gryphon is informed that the preparations for the Great War are now complete. The leader of the slave hunters, Yezariael, wants to be sent to the human world to kill the people Mark loves. 

Sara finds a picture of Ben kissing Becky and feels betrayed. She gives the picture to Mark, who gets angry at Becky, but eventually, he forgives her. As they finally get to be together, the two of them kiss, and Ben even takes her to a beautiful place in the Black Tower.


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