Question: What exactly happened to Jack? Why is he in that picture at the end of the movie?
lionhead
28th Jun 2009
The Shining (1980)
Answer: I always believed, as have others, that anyone who is "killed" by the hotel has their soul added to the hotel which materializes as them being added to the picture.
Yeah, but it seems kinda weird he is in the middle of the picture with everyone around him even though he was added last. And the ghost calling him "the caretaker" suggest he is the caretaker in that picture too, so the same person as the original one who was caretaker all that time ago.
Answer: The point of the picture at the end is to show Jack has indeed been at the hotel before. This explains the deja vu he feels upon entering the hotel. Notice none of the other ghosts, such as Delbert, the twins, Mrs Massey, etc. are visible in the photo. That's because they were at the hotel after 1921. The answer that says his soul has been around a long time is correct.
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Chosen answer: There are two possibilities: Most likely, Jack's soul is forever linked to the hotel, and every once in a while, he is reborn into the world, only to return to it, and instigate more killings. Basically, he is constantly resuming his duties as the caretaker of the spirits in the Hotel. That, or every time someone dies at the hotel, their soul becomes linked to it, and the photo at the end changes to illustrate that link. However, if that theory were true, then the cook would also be in the photo.
The cook would not be in the photo, as he was not succumbing to the Hotel, he died fighting it, and therefore his soul does not "belong" to the Overlook.
Jack is never reincarnated. Period. The hotel decides that Jack will become the next caretaker in the afterlife when he attends the initial interview! Therefore, when he dies, he becomes part of the ghosts in the hotel and immortalized in the infamous group photo on the wall! And he will make his presence known to the next victim.