Christian Hughes is a supporting antagonist in Midsommar. He is played by Jack Reynor.
Biography[]
Christian was a college student who had been studying cultural anthropology with his friend Josh. He was also friends with Mark and the Swedish Pelle.
Christian had been in a relationship with Dani Ardor, but their relationship had grown distant and toxic over time, due to Christian gaslighting her on several occasions and being somewhat emotionally manipulative. It got up to a point where Christian had been considering breaking up with Dani for at least a year. Before he can, though, Dani becomes traumatized after her sister Terri kills herself and their parents by filling their home with carbon monoxide. Despite the incident further delaying Christian's plans to break up with her, Dani's trauma still ends up further straining her and Christian's relationship.
Six months later, Christian, and his friends, Josh and Mark, have been invited by Pelle to attend a midsummer celebration at Pelle's ancestral commune, the Hårga, in Hälsingland. Christian hadn't told Dani about the planned trip, since he was planning to break up with her, but nevertheless he invites Dani along with them now that she knows about it, although he expresses doubt that she will actually come.
At the commune, Dani pulls Christian aside to remind him he forgot her birthday, and he awkwardly tries offering some traditional Swedish cake to her as a gift. Following a feast, Christian and the others witness an ättestupa, a tradition which sees two commune elders (in this case, Dan and Ylva) attempting to kill themselves by leaping from a cliff onto a rock, so that they can spare their commune the burden of taking care of them in their older years. The group is left upset at the incident, and the Hårgas elder Siv attempts to calm them down by explaining how the tradition is normal for every member to do once they reach the age of 72.
Despite being disturbed by the scene, the group decide to stay long enough for Josh to be able to finish the thesis he is working on. Christian also decides to write his thesis on the "Hårga", creating a rift between him and Josh, who accuses him of copying his idea. While Christian and the others are sleeping that night, one of the Hårgas, named Maja, carves a love rune and places it under Christian's bed. The next morning, during a meal, Christian is served a meat pie and drink with pubes in it. The next morning, Christian is commanded to go to a private meeting between him and Siv, where Siv tells him that he is a "good match for Maja", whom wants to mate with him. He is then taken to a maypole dancing competition which Dani is participating in, during which he gets given drugged tea by a cult member. Dani ends up winning the competition and is crowned May Queen, and as the Hårgas congratulate her, Christian stays back and watches from a distance.
After another feast, the effects of the drugs get to Christian, and after he gets further drugged, he winds up in a hut, where Maja is seated there waiting for him alongside various other cult members as part of a sex ritual. The drugged and vulnerable Christian is then raped by Maja, which Dani witnesses through the hut's lock. She assumes that Christian is cheating on her, causing her to have a panic attack, during which the commune's younger women surround her and mimic her cries. After the ritual, Christian comes to his senses and tries to run away. He discovers Josh's leg planted in a flowerbed and Simon's body turned into a blood eagle in a barn, before being drugged once again by an elder, and passing out.
Death[]
The temple being lit on fire.
Christian burning.
Christian wakes up, and discovers that he has been paralyzed. The commune leaders explain to Dani that, to purge the commune of its evil, nine human sacrifices must be offered. The first four victims are outsiders lured to them by Pelle and Ingemar, while the next four victims must be commune members. As May Queen, Dani must choose either Christian or a local villager to be the ninth and final victim. She chooses to sacrifice Christian, who is stuffed into a disemboweled brown bear's body and placed in a small wooden temple alongside the other sacrifices. The temple is set on fire and the commune members celebrate by mimicking the screams and wails of those being burned alive.