The Shadow of the Wind: Postmortem Summary & Analysis

Daniel spends three weeks in the hospital and even Fermín is convinced he will die. During the ambulance ride, Bea and Palacios cradled him and his heart stopped for over a minute, and Daniel thinks he has died and come back to life.

By the time Daniel wakes up a week later, the newspapers are saying Fumero died fighting armed criminals. No other bodies were found in the Aldaya mansion.

Daniel wakes up in the hospital to find Mr. Sempere, Bea, and Fermín standing guard over him. Barceló, Clara, Tomás, Bernarda, and their neighbors arrive soon after. Mr. Sempere has brought Daniel’s fountain pen to the hospital in case he wants to write, and Fermín has discovered that he won’t have to do military service due to his wounds.

Later, Daniel wakes up to find the room empty except for Carax. Carax doesn’t say anything, but Daniel looks into his eyes for a long time and feels sure that Carax has never found out that Penélope is his half sister. Daniel tells Carax to take the fountain pen and start writing again. Later Daniel wakes up again, and Bea says that she’s been there the whole time and there was no one else in the room, but the fountain pen is gone.