The OA Season 2: What Does The Ending Really Mean?
8. Old Night Is The Angel Of Death (Probably)
When trying to figure out Nina’s life, Prairie discovers that Nina used to do a show at a nightclub called Syzygy which involved her communicating with a giant octopus (which also explains the suction marks on Nina’s wrists).
During the show, the octopus says he goes by Old Night, but tells Prairie his real name is Azrael. Traditionally, Azrael is the Angel of Death who is responsible for transporting the souls of the deceased after death into the afterlife.
Old Night kills Prairie on stage for 37 seconds which gives her a glimpse into her future in another dimension. We know from the ending that what she sees is herself as Brit from dimension three travelling on a plane.
It’s unclear where Old Night comes from, why he’s an octopus and why he’s in the club performing shows with Nina. Plus we don’t know the extent of what they were doing for their shows – presumably they just communicated as Nina is a medium who has the ability to communicate with all forms of life.
The best explanation seems to be that Old Night is the Angel of Death, which is why he could give her an NDE. Karim killed him in order to save Prairie’s life but if he’s really the Angel of Death then it’s unlikely he’s dead for real.