One Hundred Years of Solitude Part 1 Ending Explained: How Did [Spoilers] Die?

Netflix’s One Hundred Years of Solitude is an adaptation of the 1967 book by Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez featuring 16 episodes. Part 1, comprising eight episodes, debuted on the streaming platform on December 11, 2024, and viewers are now wondering how it ends. The story revolves around several generations of the Buendía family and their lives in the fictional town of Macondo.

Here’s what happens when One Hundred Years of Solitude Part 1 draws to a close.

What happens at the end of One Hundred Years of Solitude Part 1?

Part 1 ends at a significant juncture of the story. Colonel Aureliano Buendía (Claudio Cataño) assumes the leadership of the Revolutionary Forces in the Caribbean. He and his men begin a war against the entire political system of the country, taking on both the conservatives and their former comrades, the liberals. Aureliano leaves a trail of blood and death in his wake as he finally returns to Macondo. He ignores his mother Úrsula’s (Marleyda Soto) plea to make peace and leads the charge against the governmental forces as Part 1 ends.

Meanwhile, Amaranta (Loren Sofía) ends her romantic relationship with Aureliano José, her nephew and Aureliano and Pilar Ternera’s son, and urges him to leave Macondo.

In the final moments of his life, José Arcadio Buendía (Diego Vásquez), the family patriarch and one of the founders of Macondo, is untied from the tree and brought into the home. He has vivid visions about his family before passing away. That night, there is a shower of yellow flowers in the town, signifying the drastic changes both the Buendía family and Macondo will experience in the coming years.

How did José Arcadio die in One Hundred Years of Solitude?

José Arcadio dies in the One Hundred Years of Solitude Part 1 finale, but the manner of his death is left ambiguous, just like it is in the books. José Arcadio (Édgar Vittorino) and Rebeca are about to make love when the doors shut behind the former. There is a sound of gunshot and then a trail of blood finds its way to Ursula, seemingly supernatural, letting her know that her son is dead. But, the series doesn’t explicitly reveal whether José Arcadio’s death is a suicide, murder, or the result of something supernatural. As a grieving Úrsula wraps her hands around her dead son, the narrator remarks, “That was perhaps the only mystery in Macondo that was never solved.”

Afterward, Rebeca retreats from society, and she is unlikely to be the killer. Perhaps, José Arcadio’s death was simply his past catching up to him. Although he eventually sought a peaceful life, he still had to pay the dues for his sins.