'Tribes of Europa' ending: What information does the Atlantian cube hold?

Netflix is dominating the world of streaming at the moment. The platform has a vast library of shows and films across several languages. Adding to its library of German shows and films, Netflix released Tribes of Europa on February 19. This new television venture is a German sci-fi show. Set in the future, the show revolves around the story of a dystopian world ruled by unruly and barbaric tribes who are seeking supernatural powers. Read on to find out what happened in Tribes of Europa ending.

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Tribes of Europa Ending

Set in the year 2074, in the world of Tribes of Europa, nations and civilizations worldwide have collapsed after a mysterious catastrophe. In the post-apocalyptic world, new and smaller micro-states have formed across Europe. These micro-states, known as “Tribes,” each with a culture of their own. Like the Europe of medieval times, these tribes have been warring to claim dominance over the continent for some time now. Technology is sparse, hence it is considered highly valuable.

Things take a gnarly turn when a mysterious aircraft crashes outside a forest which is home to the peaceful tribe known as the Origines. After careful consideration, the tribe leader Jakob leads a hunting party to check out the landing site. His children, Liv, Kiano, and Elja, discover the injured pilot of the aircraft and decide to help him. While rummaging across the landing site, Elja stumbles upon a mysterious cube that is found lying not far from the aircraft. Elsewhere, the commander of the Crows, which is a savage and barbaric tribe, is also seeking the cube and tasks Lord Varvara with finding it and bringing it to him.

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Once he is healed, the pilot reveals he hails from Atlantia and prophesizes an oncoming threat that will wipe out humanity. He then tasks Elja with returning the cube to the Ark, right before the Crows attack, and kill most of the Origine tribe’s people. Elja manages to escape amidst the chaos while Jakob and Kiano are captured. Liv is stabbed and presumed dead while Elja hides in a workshop and meets its owner, the scoundrel, Moses, who saves Elja from the Crows. Thus the family is scattered with none of the members knowing each other’s whereabouts and constantly worrying about the lost members’ wellbeing.

Liv gets rescued by the Crimsons, a military force, and is taken to their base. Meanwhile, Jakob and Kiano are taken to the city of Brathok, which is the home of the Crows. Here viewers learn a bit of the Crows and the Crimsons’ culture. Elja, who has found the cube, is solely focused on finding the Ark with the help of Moses. In the end, Liv gets entangled in the internal politics of the Crimsons and Kiano has to win a gladiatorial match to earn his freedom. Elsewhere, Elja and Moses manage to locate the Ark after running into a few troubles.

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Tribes of Europa ending explained

What is the Cube?

When Elja first comes across the cube, it is a mysterious artefact for him. The viewers are also unaware of what it is and what power it holds. We later learn that the cube is a piece of Atlantian technology and later an Atlantian pilot reveals that the cube can lead Elja to all the answers he has been looking for. The Atlantian cube also posses information about Black December. But to receive the answers, Elja must return the cube to its home, the Ark.

Very early on in the show viewers are made aware that technology is valuable in the world of ‘Tribes of Europa’, but Moses reveals that the cube’s Atlantian origin makes it worth a fortune. Apart from this, the cube is also an efficient guidance system. It is capable of transforming into a destructive laser gun and contains a crucial message.

What is Black December?

At the beginning of the series, viewers get an expository text which explains that a catastrophe has wiped out the previous world order. Constantly throughout the show’s all six episodes, it is being referred to as Black December. However, a few dialogues suggest that no one knows what happened on Black December but everyone has theories of their own, ranging from cyber-attacks to military super-viruses.

Later on, in the show, Moses reveals that in December 2029, everything driven by technology went wrong, which was followed by a global blackout on December 31. As a result of this blackout, all types of transportation and communication systems collapsed, and the world was pushed into a dark age. The words from Moses are the only concrete information we receive throughout the series. The reason and person responsible for Black December remain shrouded in mystery.

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What are the Black Swarms?

In their quest to take the Atlantian cube to its rightful place, Moses and Elja reach Amena, and meet a friend of Moses as well as a mechanic. She manages to fix the cube and upon activation, the cube reveals a holographic video message. However, the feed is disruptive and unclear because the cube is not fully repaired.

Over here viewers get a better look at the red-tinted footage when Elja activates the cube in front of Bracker, and we see a man who is presumably the Atlantian pilot, surveying an unknown area. Viewers then see reddish-black storm clouds forming, and they encapsulate everything in their path, growing larger and larger. The cryptic message given by the cube is never explained, at least not in the show’s six episodes. On their way to meet Bracker, Moses and Elja camp with an Asian family who reveal that they had to flee their home in the East because of the “Black Swarms.” The family also reveals that seeing the Black Swarms causes a person’s death.

Who are the Tribes of Europa?

The series introduces it’s audiences to the peaceful tribe of Origines in the beginning. The Origines live in hiding and are quickly decimated by the end of the first episode. The Crows on the other hand are a barbaric tribe, and the Crimsons are a military force.

By the Tribes of Europa season 1 ending, audiences already know that details of the cultures of these tribes but not an awful lot is revealed about the Atlantians. Hence, an air of mystery hangs around them. We know that they are the most technologically advanced tribe in Europa and the only tribe that has managed to survive the Black December. However, everything else about them, even their location, remains a mystery.

Image Sources: Still from Tribes of Europa (Netflix)