The ending of Panji Tengkorak was centered around the final confrontation between the titular character and Lembugiri. To explain things chronologically, the kingdoms of Madyantara and Aryadwipa had been at war for ages. So, Bramantya, Lembugiri, and Nagamas set out to find the Adidaya relic, because it was believed that that relic had helped the first king to unite the entire realm. But given how the relic turned out to be too powerful, the trio decided to lock it in a box, divide its key between the three of them, and keep it a secret from humanity, because nobody should be allowed to wield that much power. Eventually, their resolve began to waver, and Nagamas turned to the dark arts, supposedly with the aim of controlling the relic. Nagamas moved to the Serpent Island, where he kept working on his spells, which compelled Bramantya to attack him and the village centered around his cave in an attempt to stop him. Amongst the casualties was Murni, the love of Panji’s life. Panji was gravely injured, but he had survived the onslaught. Enraged, he donned Murni’s skull and carried on the study of the dark arts that his master, Nagamas, had started. He killed Bramantya’s men, but he never got to Bramantya because he hadn’t seen his face. He tried to die by suicide and join Murni in the afterlife, but he was unable to do so because his training had turned him immortal. Panji thought that that was a curse; however, during his fight with Lembugiri, he realized that it was actually a boon. How so? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Bramantya Was Kidnapped
From what I understood, Lembugiri didn’t want to give up the Adidaya relic for a purpose as simplistic as uniting the kingdoms of Madyantara and Aryadwipa. He wanted the power all to himself, because that was the only thing that would feed his god complex. Given his age, he couldn’t pull off that task on his own. Also, after the Serpent Island incident, since Bramantya had parted ways with him and Nagamas had perished, he didn’t have access to the other two pieces of the key, which were in Bramantya and Panji’s possession, that were needed to unlock the relic. So, he needed brute force and a trap for his brother-in-arms, Bramantya, and Nagamas’ disciple, Panji. For the first part of his plan, Kalawereng and his merry band of bandits came in handy. Lembugiri convinced Kalawereng that the Adidaya relic would make him the king of Madyantara, and that’s why Kalawereng took Lembugiri under his protection. Before heading to his camp, Lembugiri sent out a message to Bramantya, telling him that he had been kidnapped by Kalawereng and needed to be rescued. Call it fate or destiny, Bramantya reached out to Panji, and that made it easier for Kalawereng to attack the two of them. There’s no way to say what would have happened if Bramantya and Panji were the only two people searching for Lembugiri and the relic, but since Gantari and Kuwuk tagged along with them, they got the martial and moral support that they needed to stand strong against Kalawereng’s forces. Still, that wasn’t enough, because, during one of the altercations with the bandits, Bramantya got kidnapped, and Kalawereng managed to extract the second part of the key from him.
Lembugiri Exposed the Truth About Bramantya
Bramantya almost hoped that Panji, Gantari, and Kuwuk wouldn’t come looking for him and the third piece would be safe in Nagamas’ sword, which Panji used on a regular basis without knowing what was in it. However, as expected, they showed up at Kalawereng’s camp. While Panji distracted Kalawereng and Lembugiri, Gantari and Kuwuk freed Bramantya, and the three of them joined Panji in the fight against Kalawereng and Lembugiri. During this brawl, Lembugiri hit everyone with two major plot twists. Firstly, Lembugiri assisted in the murder of Kalawereng, and during the bandit king’s final moments, he came to the sad realization that Lembugiri had been using him all this while. And secondly, Lembugiri showed Panji that it was Bramantya who had attacked the Serpent Island and had everyone killed there, including Murni and Nagamas. After dropping that bombshell, Lembugiri went off to unite the three pieces of the key, access the relic, and essentially become a god. He was confident that Panji would turn against Bramantya and kill him, because he was the one who had gotten away during Panji’s quest for revenge. However, over the course of the journey that Panji had embarked on after trying to kill himself in front of Murni’s grave, I think he had understood that vengeance wouldn’t heal him in any way, or bring Murni back into his life. He chose to isolate himself from civilization, allowing the rumors around his “demonic powers” to spread, but he tried his best to not kill anyone. He had every reason to kill Bramantya, and I suppose even Bramantya would have welcomed it. However, he decided to use his powers to save all the people that Lembugiri had planned to kill to create the stepping stone for his kingdom and process his feelings for Bramantya later on.
Lembugiri Completed Panji’s Transformation
When Panji made the choice to go after Lembugiri first and deal with Bramantya later, I think Panji was still conflicted about whether that’s what he really wanted. Hence, when he, along with Bramantya, Gantari, and Kuwuk, engaged in a fight with Lembugiri in his godly form, they were knocked down, and Gantari was killed. I will say that even when Lembugiri marched into Madyantara and massacred a bunch of people in order to get to the throne, Panji’s mind was still in a state of confusion. It’s only after Lembugiri plunged the relic into his chest that his eyes were opened and he saw his true purpose. Yeah, so all those years ago, Nagamas turned himself into a sentient vat of acid to counteract the devastating power of the relic. He wanted to integrate the relic with his body to neutralize it. It’s unclear why Nagamas didn’t survive. Maybe he didn’t have the right motivation to study the dark arts, or he read the spells incorrectly. However, where Nagamas failed, Panji succeeded, possibly because he was doing it all for Murni, and he managed to maintain his cellular integrity despite leaking venom and acid out of every pore of his body. And when Lembugiri stabbed Panji with the relic, he activated the reaction that empowered Panji and began the process of “neutralizing” the relic. Of course, Lembugiri didn’t have any idea that that’d happen to the relic if he stabbed Panji with it, or else he simply wouldn’t have done it. By the time Lembugiri understood what he’d done, it was too late, and the relic had fused with Panji’s body, thereby giving him abilities that rivaled the ones that Lembugiri had gotten during his brief interaction with the item.
Panji killed Lembugiri
In the ending of Panji Tengkorak, the titular character ripped through Lembugiri’s chest, pulled out his heart, and killed him. While Lembugiri had gone out of control after coming in touch with the Adidaya relic, Panji didn’t have any such adverse reaction. He simply calmed himself down, depowered himself, took off his skull mask, and attended Gantari’s funeral ceremony with Bramantya and Kuwuk. After the proceedings, Bramantya offered his life to Panji, because it was the last step of his revenge quest. Panji simply slit his forearm, exposing the venom coursing through his body, told Bramantya that his death meant nothing to him, and walked away. That didn’t mean that Panji had forgiven Bramantya. Regardless of whether Bramantya had decimated Serpent Island under Lembugiri’s influence or of his own volition, atoning for that sin was his cross to bear. Panji killing Bramantya would be the easiest solution possible. Living with the truth of what he had done and doing some good in life to balance the proverbial scales was an apt punishment for Bramantya. As for Panji, I suppose he had a new purpose: using his newfound powers for the betterment of mankind. I mean, that’s what Nagamas wanted to do, and Panji knew that he wasn’t getting into the afterlife anytime soon. So, it was better to use his time to rid the world of antisocial elements—something that was confirmed by the new stories that Kuwuk was telling to anybody who was willing to hear.
Some Thoughts on Gantari
Panji knew that with the power of the relic and the dark arts in his body, he was a walking target, and it was only a matter of time before another power-hungry person like Lembugiri came after him. If he could do some good by then, I think he’d feel some sense of satisfaction. While the character arcs of all these men reached a somewhat reasonable conclusion, I feel that Gantari’s journey was handled so poorly. Her whole family had been slaughtered by a wielder of dark arts. She’d pulled herself together by becoming a disciple of Dewi Tari. Then she had to see her own brother join up with those bandits, lose his mind, and try to kill her. If it wasn’t for Panji, Gantari would have been killed by her brother, and that experience helped her see that the world was not as black and white as she thought it was. She probably would have used all that knowledge to become a better warrior and taught other women like her to be as brave as she was. However, that was so cruelly cut short by Lembugiri. I mean, she had more skills than Kuwuk. How did he get to make it all the way to the end and she didn’t? That’s the only thing about this movie that didn’t quite make sense to me. Other than that, I really liked this story and was absolutely dazzled by the animation. I wish to see more stories featuring Panji Tengkorak. What about you? Let me know in the comments section below.
