Subtle Clues That Foreshadow The Ending In Shutter Island

Summary

• Teddy’s behavior on the ferry hints at his real identity.
• The missing cigarettes and attire reveal Teddy’s patient status.
• The guards’ nervousness and Chuck’s gun fumble indicate the truth.

Based on the novel by the same name, Shutter Island is a film with many layers. Set in the 1950s, it tells the story of Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshal investigating the strange disappearance of a patient at a remote mental institution. However, the plot is anything but a straightforward mystery in this masterful Martin Scorsese adaptation.

Shutter Island’s ending will most likely be a complete shock to first-time viewers. Interestingly, upon closer inspection, there are subtle hints and clues throughout the events of the film that actually foreshadow the ending. For eagle-eyed moviegoers, spotting them can be quite rewarding.

Updated December 18, 2024, by Ben Painter: Shutter Island is just one of the plethora of amazing movies by Martin Scorsese, including the likes of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Wolf of Wall Street, with the latter also starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Regarded as one of the best twists in movie history, the ending is mind-blowing for fans on the first watch. However, on the second viewing of the movie, it is plain to see that the twist is coming with several clever clues presented throughout the film. This update adds five more of those subtle clues that foreshadow the ending.

Notable SPOILERS are about to follow.

13 Teddy Knows Too Much On The Ferry

The Detective Seems To Be Really Good At His Job

• Time Stamp: 1:06
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo)
• Biggest Clue: They first met on the ferry

When viewers are first introduced to Teddy Daniels, he is throwing up in the toilet; it is presented that he is just seasick. But there are different ways this can be interpreted: he is physically ill from the thought of returning to Ashecliffe Hospital, he is maybe off his medication, or he is not used to traveling by boat, something that a ‘legend’ of a detective should surely be used to.

Teddy also mentions that the hospital is for the ‘criminally insane’, which is a direct reference to what he indeed is. It is also bizarre that these two new colleagues meet for the first time on the ferry. Surely, they would have met before boarding the boat. They are just subtle clues that second-time viewers will pick up on once they know the ending of the movie.

12 Teddy’s Cigarettes

Why Didn’t He Have His Own?

• Time Stamp: 3:20
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo)
• Biggest Clue: He doesn’t have his own cigarettes

In the movie’s opening scene, the two detectives, Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, are on the ferry heading to Ashecliffe Hospital to begin their investigation. Daniels appears to have misplaced his cigarettes, and Aule gives him one of us. At first viewing, he is just being kind to his new colleague.

But in reality, this is a subtle nod to the fact that Teddy Daniels is a patient at Ashecliffe and, therefore, doesn’t have access to his own cigarettes. This is an obscure reference that happens right at the start of the movie; the director is planting so many little seeds that viewers will pick up on a second viewing.

11 The Nervous Guards

On A Second Viewing It Is Obvious

• Time Stamp: 4:57
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), Deputy Warden McPherson (John Carroll Lynch)
• Biggest Clue: The guards are on too high alert considering they are supposed to be detectives

One of the more clever hints occurs at the very beginning of the movie. As Teddy and his partner, Chuck, arrive on the island, the guards give them an icy reception. They give Teddy dirty looks and exchange nervous glances with each other. First-time viewers are inclined to believe that the staff simply resents the presence of the Marshals. The movie would have you believe something sinister is happening at Ashecliffe Hospital and that outsiders aren’t welcome.

The truth, however, is quite different. The guards aren’t nervous because they have something to hide. Rather, they know that Teddy is a patient at the hospital and are justifiably unnerved by his presence. The deputy warden even admits his men are twitchy, although he declines the reason as to why.

10 Chuck Fumbles With His Gun

A Police Detective Should Do Better

• Time Stamp: 7:49
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), Deputy Warden McPherson (John Carroll Lynch)
• Biggest Clue: A U.S. Marshal should know how to unclip his gun with ease

The ending reveals that Teddy’s partner “Chuck” is actually his doctor, Lester Sheehan. As part of the roleplaying exercise, Sheehan pretends to be Teddy’s partner so the former can keep an eye on him. When the pair first arrive at Ashcliffe Hospital, there exists a subtle clue that demonstrates “Chuck” isn’t really a U.S. Marshal.

Teddy and Chuck are asked to surrender their firearms before entering the hospital. When Chuck goes to remove his holster, he fumbles with it for several seconds. Everyone, including Teddy, gives Chuck an amused look. Chuck’s clumsiness is because he is a doctor, not a law enforcement officer. He’s unfamiliar with dealing with guns, and it shows.

9 The Apathetic Search Party

The Guards Are Fighting A Lost Cause

• Time Stamp: 15:41
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), Deputy Warden McPherson (John Carroll Lynch)
• Biggest Clue: The guards aren’t looking very hard

Rachel Solando, the patient Teddy is supposed to find, isn’t a real person. She is an individual Teddy invented to fit his U.S. Marshal persona. However, for the roleplaying experiment to run its course, everyone at the hospital must play along with Teddy’s delusions.

The guards contribute to the facade by forming search parties to look for Rachel. However, if one closely observes the guards in action, they appear to be doing nothing. First-time viewers are inclined to believe that the guards just don’t care about finding Rachel. In reality, the guards are apathetic because they know Rachel doesn’t exist. They have to pretend to search for someone they know is imaginary. Scorsese was really hanging this one under viewer’s noses.

8 The Staff/Patient Awkwardness At The Mention Of Sheehan

They Are Trying Their Hardest To Play Up To The Facade

• Time Stamp: 19:05, 37:05
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), Nurse Marino (Nellie Scuitto), Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley)
• Biggest Clue: Dr. Sheehan is not present at this staff meeting

There are actually a few more blink-and-you-miss-it encounters that hint at “Chuck’s” real identity. As part of his investigation into the missing patient, Teddy first interviews the staff. While conversing with one of the nurses, the topic of Dr. Sheehan is broached. At the mention of Sheehan’s name, the nurse suddenly becomes very awkward and steals a quick glance in Chuck’s direction. Unbeknownst to Teddy, the man they are talking about is standing right there.

This exercise is repeated a second time when Teddy is interviewing the patients. The conversation once again gets very awkward when Dr. Sheehan is discussed. One of the patients becomes extremely embarrassed when Teddy mentions Sheehan’s attractiveness. Throughout it all, the camera periodically pans to Chuck, subtly implying that he is Dr. Sheehan. There’s also a curious moment where the patient appears to drink from an invisible glass of water, further implying not everything is as it seems.

7 Dr. Nahering

The Doctor Has A Slip Of The Tongue

• Time Stamp: 21:20
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), Dr. Nahering (Max von Sydow), Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley)
• Biggest Clue: Teddy appears to have been in this room before

Continuing with their investigation, the two Marshals meet Dr. Nahering, a psychiatrist at the institution. Perhaps the most obvious clue in the movie thus far, Naehring says to Teddy “Men like you are my specialty”. On first viewing, it may seem that the doctor can just tell that the detective has some issues.

But as it turns out, he is talking literally as he is his doctor at the hospital, and he even goes back on his words and says that he is just making a general point about men being violent. A slip of the tongue, but it wasn’t enough to give away the facade that is presented throughout the picture. Another key moment in this scene is when Teddy recognizes the music playing, meaning that he has been in this room and heard it before.

6 Teddy’s Dreams Of Dolores

Foreshadowing What Really Happened

• Time Stamp: 27:45
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Dolores (Michelle Williams)
• Biggest Clue: The water turning into blood reveals how Dolores really died

Teddy suffers from vivid nightmares at various points throughout the film. The subject of many of these dreams is Dolores, Teddy’s deceased wife. He maintains that Dolores died tragically in an apartment fire, perpetrated by a pyromaniac named Andrew Laeddis.

One of Teddy’s early dreams, however, reveals what actually happened to Dolores. When Teddy embraces her, Dolores’s abdomen begins to bleed. Then, water starts to gush out. This interaction acknowledges how Dolores really died. Teddy, who is actually Andrew Laeddis, shot Dolores after the latter drowned their children in the nearby lake. The blood mixed with the water foreshadows this later revelation.

5 The Costume Change

A Visual Clue For The Big Reveal

• Time Stamp: 49:20
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), Trey Washington (Curtiss Cook)
• Biggest Clue: It sets the cause of Teddy revealing who he really is

When Teddy and Chuck are caught up in a storm, their clothes are soaked through, so they are given new clothes to change into. It is no coincidence that they are given patient gowns to wear, something that DiCaprio’s character wears throughout the remainder of the movie, and it is the turning point of his starting to act mentally unstable.

This is a very on-the-nose clue to the true identity of Daniels, although he hasn’t come to the mental realization yet, he certainly looks the part. The gown doesn’t fit him properly either, which has a deeper meaning that he is playing a role and not everything is what it seems.

4 George Noyce’s Warning

It Is A Very Literal Message

• Time Stamp: 68:00
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), George Noyce (Jackie Earle Haley)
• Biggest Clue: George Noyce literally tells Teddy the truth

When Teddy and Chuck finally enter Ward C, they encounter some patients who are clearly in distress. There is one particular patient, George Noyce, who knows Teddy and reveals the truth to him, something that the viewers may think is a lie from a mentally ill person.

As it is revealed later, Noyce’s message, “They’re doing this all for you, you’re a rat in a maze”, is exactly what is happening in the movie, and Teddy Daniels is the man, Andrew Laeddis, that he has been looking for. Earlier in the movie, Daniels told Aule that the reason he knew about the hospital was from a man named George Noyce, but this was obviously fiction as Noyce was an inmate the whole time.

3 The Andrew Laeddis Patient Document

Denial, Denial, Denial

• Time Stamp: 78:20
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo)
• Biggest Clue: Chuck has the final piece to the puzzle

Until the very end of the movie, Teddy is unaware that he is actually Andrew Laeddis. He incorrectly believes that Laeddis is a separate patient at the hospital. The search is unsurprisingly a failure. Nevertheless, Chuck claims to find patient documentation that proves Laeddis is a resident at the hospital.

Tellingly, Teddy refuses to look at the documentation. This strikes Chuck as very odd considering Teddy’s previous fascination with finding Laeddis. The reasoning is that Teddy, on a subconscious level, knows that the document will prove his true identity. He doesn’t want to give up the delusion, refusing to accept evidence that will shatter his carefully laid fantasies.

2 Teddy’s Conversation With The Warden

The Warden Is Telling Him The Truth

• Time Stamp: 92:20
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Warden (Ted Levine)
• Biggest Clue: The Warden discusses violence with Teddy

Towards the end of the film, Teddy encounters the Warden, a somewhat mysterious and intimidating figure. While driving Teddy back to the hospital, the Warden discusses the nature of violence. He claims that nothing is purer or more natural to man than violence.

Throughout the conversation, the Warden intimates that he knows Teddy is a patient. He believes Teddy is irredeemably violent and subtly hints at his own skepticism concerning the roleplaying experiment. It’s a rather chilling scene whose true meaning is easy to overlook.

1 The Rule Of Four

Some Clever Anagrams

• Time Stamp: 110:00
• Actors/Characters In Scene: Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley)
• Biggest Clue: Teddy is not who he thinks he is

The patient Teddy is supposed to find is Rachel Solando, an individual who has seemingly vanished without a trace. The only clue Teddy has to go on is a cryptic message that reads, “The Rule of Four. Who is 67?” Teddy was unable to crack the hidden meaning behind this strange message.

Interestingly, one of the hospital doctors makes an illuminating comment about the message midway through the film. This doctor, with an air of amusement, exclaims, “The Rule of Four. I love that.” The comment seemingly means nothing at first, but it reveals that the staff is aware of what is really going on. The “Rule of Four” references the anagrams used for the roleplaying experiment. Edward Daniels is an anagram of Andrew Laeddis, while Rachel Solando is an anagram of Dolores Chanal.