‘Brigands’ Ending Explained & Series Summary: Did Sparrowhawk Steal The Gold?

Brigands: The Quest for Gold takes us back to Italy in the 1860s when the Piedmontese forces were capturing the territories in the southern part of the land and wreaking havoc in the lives of the natives. Eventually, many groups of rebels were friends whose sole intention was to take back their land and push the foreign forces out from there. While all that was happening, there was a rumor that there was a lot of gold hidden somewhere in the forest area and that there was a map where the exact location was marked. Things became complicated once the news of the map being found once again spread throughout the entire region. So, let’s find out if there was actually some treasure hidden in the area and if the sitting regime or the rebel forces were able to procure it.

Spoiler Alert

How did Filomena find the secret map? 

Filomena was probably the only person who didn’t originally come from the Piedmontese clan, but she married one of the influential members named Don Clemente, and that’s when, for better or worse, her life changed completely. She lived a privileged life in terms of materialistic pleasures, but deep down, she knew that she had signed up for a hellish lifestyle. Filomena got to know that the legend of the hidden southern gold was not just a hoax; it existed in reality. Somehow, Don Clemente had found the map where the location of the gold was marked, and it was just a matter of time before he learned how to read it. One night, Don Clemente threw the poor woman in the well and tested it when she figured out that there was a secret channel beneath it that connected the entire city of Palermo. She crawled out of the well through those channels, and that’s when she made up her mind to kill her husband and end her misery. Filomena stabbed Don Clemente and took the map and the key to the safe where all his gold was kept.

Meanwhile, just as she was about to escape in Brigands episode 1, the infamous bounty hunter, Sparrowhawk, aka Schiavona, came to her doorstep, as he also had come to know that Clemente had the map on him. Filomena was able to escape that night, but Sparrowhawk was captured by the Piedmontese army. Later in the series, Sparrowhawk told Filomena that when Garibaldi gave all the gold to the Piedmontese army, some of it was hidden in the southern region, as there were a bunch of people who didn’t trust the foreigners, and they knew that time would come when their trust would be betrayed. Filomena was taken into custody by the Monacos, a group of rebels who wanted to conduct a coup and take control of the region, but due to their disorganized efforts and lack of resources, they were never able to do that. Pietro, the head of the Monaco clan, somewhat trusted Filomena, but Ceccilla doubted her intentions, and she wanted to test her before making her a part of the family.

Filomena proved her allegiance by taking Pietro and others to her place and giving them the old things that were kept in her husband’s vault. Filomena chose not to say anything about the map, as she first wanted to understand where it led and if the entire myth about the hidden treasure was true or not. Filomena had to endure a lot, as Monaco first gave her to Sparrowhawk, who later gave her custody to General Fumel. Fumel wanted to take Filomena with him to the northern region, and he decided that he was going to probably marry her. Obviously, Filomena despised the man, and she found a way to escape from his custody. Filomena, because of her association with the Piedmontese regime, didn’t have anywhere to go, as everybody doubted her intentions, though her inclinations were very clear from the onset. Filomena knew that if she was able to procure the gold, then she would not only be able to lead a happy life, but she could also make sure that the entire British clan would prosper and wouldn’t have to resort to such a guerilla way of living. 

What happened to Marchetta? 

Marchetta never wanted Filomena to become a part of the group, but he had no option after Ceccilla sided with her, and even Pietro started trusting her. Pietro had gotten to know that there was somebody who was leaking information to Commander Fumel, though he had no idea that it would be someone who was so close to him. Fumel got to know where Pietro and his gang were hiding, and in the end, to save everybody else, Pietro surrendered himself together with another associate named Celestino. Ceccilla lost her mental stability after that, and she felt she lost everything. She would have killed herself, but Jurillo, the little boy, came at the right time and saved her. It was fate that Jurillo was able to reach the cliff where she was standing on time, as otherwise, she would have shot herself and ended her quest. But once Jurillo came, she got hope, and she decided to find the traitor, because of whom everything got spoiled in the past.

Marchetta was a shrewd conspirator, and he was able to make Ceccilla believe that it was Filomena who had backstabbed them and gave Fumel information about their whereabouts. Ceccilla was all set to take revenge, but deep down, she knew that something wasn’t right. She was not able to connect a lot of dots, which is why she was in a bit of a dilemma. But soon, it dawned on her that it was Marchetta who had backstabbed her. As soon as Marchetta realized that he had attacked Ceccilla, she somehow managed to save herself. Marchetta escaped, and when he met Jurrillo in the woods, he asked him to kill Lissandra, the daughter of Commander Fumel, who had developed an affinity for the little boy. Jurrillo was brainwashed into believing that he should kill Lissandra, as she was the daughter of the tyrant, and the poor girl didn’t know what to do to make him understand that she was nothing like him. At the end of Brigands season 1, Jurrillo, in a surprising move, shot Marchetta, and the man met his fateful yet befitting end. 

Was Filomena able to get the Southern gold? 

The brigands of Terra di Lavoro were led by a fierce woman named Michelina, and she knew that she would have to unify all the small clans together if they wanted to stand a chance against the Piedmontese army. The problem was that the leader of the clan, Stonebreaker, named Gennaro, said that they would only join forces if Maria was married to his son Cosimo. This guy was the same man whom Sparrowhawk had sent to the Mignano prison. Cosimo was released from there, and Michelina didn’t have a lot of options. Even when she knew the kind of man Cosimo was and how Maria didn’t want to marry him, she agreed to the matrimonial alliance. But in the end, she had a change of heart, and Michelina realized that she could not make Maria’s life a living hell just because she had to win a war. Michelina, dressed as the bride, went and stabbed Cosimo, and her loyal soldiers killed Gennaro on the spot, too. At the end of Brigands season 1, Filomena made a detailed plan to distract the Piedmontese forces and steal the gold that she came to know was kept on church premises. Filomena told the soldiers about the secret channel of canals that connected the entire city. Under the leadership of Michelina, the British waged a war against the Piedmontese forces, and they were able to procure the gold from their hideout. Everything was going right, but there was a twist in the end that nobody expected, and it changed everything for Filomena. 

Why did Sparrowhawk steal the gold? 

In Brigands‘ ending, we saw that Sparrowhawk acted according to his reputation and betrayed Filomena’s trust. He took away all the gold and went to Carmine Crocco’s territory, where he gave it all to him. Carmine had a woman in his custody, and probably he had told Sparrowhawk earlier that he wouldn’t release her unless and until he gave something in return. It looked like that woman was Sparrowhawk’s lover, and that is why he had orchestrated everything since the very beginning. Sparrowhawk’s intentions are still unknown, and probably, if there is a Brigands season 2, we will get to know if the man was actually so treacherous or if he had something else on his mind. Michelina was also taken into custody by the Piedmontese soldiers in the end, and I believe Filomena would come back to rescue her with the British force. I won’t be surprised if, eventually, Filomena becomes the leader of the rebel group, fights for the independence of the oppressed clans, and grants them the life they always deserved.