Continuity mistake: The piece of meat that Dunbar offers the wolf changes shape and size dramatically throughout that scene.
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Kevin Costner
Starring: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant
Lt. Dunbar (Costner) returns to his post after a long stay with the Sioux, to find that the post is being occupied by Union soldiers. They mistake him for a Sioux and shoot down his horse. As they take him away to have him killed, a bunch of the soldiers shoot Two Socks, and kill him. Wind in his Hair and a few other Sioux, catches up to them. They kill the soldiers and rescue Dunbar. Dunbar warns the tribe that he is now a target to the army, and that if they find him, they will surely wipe out the tribe also. Ten Bears believes him, but assures him that he doesn't exist as Lt. John Dunbar anymore, he is known as a Sioux warrior named Dances with Wolves. The soldiers closing in, find the abandoned camp of the Sioux, if not for Dunbar, they would've all been killed. Dunbar and Stands With a Fist (McDonnell) travel back to convince the white men to make peace with the Sioux.
David Dunn
More mistakes in Dances with Wolves
Major Fambrough: Sir knight? I've just pissed in my pants... and nobody can do anything about it.
Trivia: For his portrait of the Indians (which was radically different from all the earlier movies), Costner was made an honorary tribe member of the real-life Sioux.
Question: Why did Dunbar's superior kill himself as Dunbar was being taken to his new post?
Answer: Dunbar's superior supported the British ("The King is dead... Long live the King" said with a heavy British accent) and was likely a closet-case Redcoat his entire US military career. It was not rare and many suicides were a result of that.
This claim is not supported by the movie. "The King is dead. Long live the King" is a common idiom referring to the passing of power to someone new. It most definitely does not literally refer to the English King. The movie is set in the middle of Queen Victoria's reign. As for your assertion that there were a large number of English loyalists in the Union Army three generations after the Revolutionary War seems highly unlikely. Can you cite evidence of this?
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Answer: He was mentally disturbed and was depressed about being assigned to a "dead end" post with no chance at advancement. Dunbar, the hero, choosing to be assigned to the frontier, just pushed the poor soul over the edge.
Mark English
In a word, the disease syphilis. The urinary tract problems and the Insanity are possible side effects.
What are you basing this on? What in the movie indicates that he has syphilis?