True Detective Season 4: What does the spiral symbol mean?

The spiral symbol from True Detective Season 1 has reared its enigmatic head in Season 4 – but what does it mean? Here’s what we know. 

One of the best aspects of watching a new chapter of HBO’s True Detective is hunting for all of the hidden clues and details that indicate where the mystery is heading. And Season 4, aka Night Country, is no different. 

In the first two episodes, there have been numerous references to Season 1, leaving some fans convinced Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) will make an appearance (but it’s best not to hold your breath on that front). 

There’s also the mystery of what happened to the Tsalal researchers, with detectives Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Navarro (Kali Reis) slowly uncovering more sinister details – including that spiral symbol. Warning: Spoilers ahead!

True Detective Season 4: What does the spiral symbol mean?

The spirals that keep showing up in True Detective Season 4 are a connection to the Tsalal researchers and the death of Inupiaq woman Annie K. A local woman describes it as a “satanic” symbol, the same suggestion made by a detective in Season 1. While there’s no definitive answer, we do know the spiral is an ancient drawing. 

The spiral shows up in Episode 1 of Night Country, as Danvers and her team notice it’s scrawled on the foreheads of the Tsalal researchers who were found dead in the snow, completely naked and covered in gruesome yet self-inflicted wounds. 

Navarro speaks with survivalist Rose (Fiona Shaw), who draws the shape in the snow. After Navarro says she recognizes it, Rose explains, “It’s old, missy. Older than Ennis. It’s older than the ice, probably.”

HBO

Any True Detective fan will also recognize the spiral shape – it features throughout Season 1, first showing up on the body of Dora Lange. The sinister pictogram represented the Yellow King and the sex cult Rust and Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson) were investigating.

How these two cases are connected is yet to be seen, but with each new episode of Season 4 comes further clues to suggest they are intrinsically linked. Firstly, Rose was friends with Travis Cohle, aka Rust’s father, which checks out as Rust revealed that he grew up in Alaska before returning to Texas. 

Secondly, Danvers’ protege Peter Prior (Finn Bennett) discovers that the Tsalal Arctic Research Station was being funded by a shell company called NC Global Strategies – which in turn belongs to Tuttle United. Yes, Tuttle, aka the family behind the cult from Season 1. 

Finally, and this could be a coincidence, but the Ennis crab factory features crates with the name Blue King – which may be a reference to the Yellow King. This might seem like a reach, but the red-headed worker Blair (Kathryn Wilder) has a rather suspicious expression on her face when she’s asked about the spiral symbol. 

HBO

Danvers brings a copy of the symbol to the factory in Episode 2, where fellow factory worker Bee (Diane Benson) takes a look and says, “What is that, a cult sign? No, witchcraft.” She calls Blair over, asking, “You ever see anything like that devil sign?” Blair denies any knowledge of it, but as she walks away she has a concerned look on her face. 

Could she know more than she’s letting on? Some viewers seem to think so, especially after Nevarro and Danvers find missing Tsalal worker Raymond Clark’s old trailer, which features pictures of him with Annie K, including one that was taken by a third person – perhaps Blair?

Both Clark and Annie had the spiral symbol tattooed on them, and the symbol is also present on the roof of the trailer. There are plenty of theories about what it could mean, with one writing on Reddit: “I see the spiral as the cycle of life, human life starting from micro organisms to the permafrost bacteria being the thing that kills us.”

HBO

Another said: “The spiral is an underground symbol used by pedophiles to communicate their twisted sexual bent. Look it up. The FBI has released information on this. The abuse of children has been an ongoing theme in the True Detective series. This all interconnects to the elite, the untouchable, those above morality. The ones who get away.”

True Detective: Night Country Episodes 1-2 are available to stream on Max now, which you can sign up for here.

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