After the Klan's victory over Silas Lynch, all is right in the world as it exists inside D.W. Griffith's racist little head. This leads our two main couples—Ben + Elsie and Phil + Margaret (or Belsie and Phargaret, as we like to call them)—to get married, signifying the newfound peace between the North and South.

Pretty simple, right?

But that's not all, folks. After showing the two pairs of lovers on their honeymoons, the movie shifts its focus entirely. First, we see the personification of War—a warrior atop a steed—attacking a group of cowering people while dead bodies litter the screen. This scene then shifts to a group of happy people in togas while an image of Jesus Christ is superimposed on top of them.

Trippy, sure, but what does it mean? Well, the obvious answer is that Griffith is metaphorically depicting the newfound peace between the North and South and associating it with Christianity—makes sense. On another level, however, Griffith is also associating the victory of the KKK with Christianity, implying that their mission is divinely ordained in some way.

This is of course absurd, as Jesus was never a fan of slavery, violence, or racial oppression—not really his bag. Still, it seems to us that Griffith is using religious ideology to justify these disturbing practices within his own mind—not to mention his audience's.