An Enemy of Fate

The Glyphs

This episode's glyphs spell: C-L-O-S-E

This episode brings the story of Fringe to a close.

The Observer

Observers are featured in this episode.

Episode Clues

Previous Episode Clue

Signage on the dock in 'Liberty' shows an image of a man putting a finger to his lips (to say 'quiet'), foreshadowing Michael giving the same gesture to Olivia in 'An Enemy of Fate' when she asked him what they have to do next and when she killed Windmark.

Items of Interest

All 12 Observers from the scientific team started to develop emotions by being around pre-Observer humans and they agreed to speak nothing of it.
The plan to defeat the Observers: an initiating reactor will provide a surge of energy to start up the device. The device will create a singularity, a small wormhole. The radioactive power from the red rocks will sustain the device's energy. The beacons stabilize each end of the wormhole, one in 2036 and one in 2167. The large electromagnet is a launch platform, launching the beacon into the wormhole at the exact right angle to reach its destination. The scrolls of physics are to set and prepare the cylinders. Walter has to accompany Michael to guide him to the scientists in Norway.
Walter knew that the universe would delete him and Michael at the point of the invasion in 2015. He made his goodbye tape to Peter sometime between 2012 (season 4 finale) and the invasion, when he and September were working on the plan. So when Walter disappeared the tape would still exist since it was made pre-invasion.
December is dead, hung by Loyalists. (Image 1)
Olivia asked Michael what to do next when they realized they couldn't trigger the device, and Michael put his finger to his lips as if to say 'stay calm, wait, and the solution will come to you.' Michael repeated this gesture after Olivia killed Windmark with her powers, staying calm and quiet.
Gene has been in amber this whole time. (Image 2)
Walter called Astrid 'Astrid'.
After getting thrown to the ground by Windmark, Olivia saw Etta's bullet necklace on the ground. The feelings of fear and love inside her caused Olivia to summon all her strength and use the last of her Cortexiphan abilities to defeat Windmark.
September is dead. (Image 3)
Peter's last words to Walter were "I love you, dad."
It would be a paradox for Walter to live the same years of his life onward from 2015 and also from 2167. He can't have two lives. So he was erased from 2015 at the moment of the would-be invasion.
Time travel possibilities:
- 2015 was a fixed point in time and so everything before it remained the same while everything from then on was different.
- Walter stopped the Observers from being created, but knowing how instrumental Observers were in setting him on the path we saw all 5 seasons, he created special time travelers using Alistair Peck's time traveling device to go back in time and make sure all the same events still happened (like Marty McFly making sure key moments still played out so his parents would get married even though the specific details were different).
- Walter still allowed Observers to be created, and possibly even a science team to go back and observe history, but they were like Michael in that they still had emotions in addition to higher intelligence. So they still went back, still distracted Walternate, etc. so seasons 1-4 still happened, but the invasion never happened because, having emotions, they never ruined their planet and therefore had no need to invade the past.
One of the envelopes Peter sorted through said "Thank you for your support!", a direct message from the creators of Fringe to all the fans. (Image 4)

Item of interest: December — **Image 1**: December
Timestamp: 17:05

Item of interest: Gene — **Image 2**: Gene
Timestamp: 23:06

Item of interest: September — **Image 3**: September
Timestamp: 40:04

Item of interest: Thank you for your support! — **Image 4**: Thank you for your support!
Timestamp: 42:56

Glyph Sightings

A hand can be seen on the wall when Olivia and Peter attack the Observers and Loyalists.

Names for Astrid

Walter called Astrid 'Astrid'.

Connection Chart

A visualization of all the ways this episode connects to other episodes. Scroll down to see the actual connections.

Episode Connections

S1E01 - Pilot

The translucent skin toxin from 'Pilot' was used as a weapon against the Observers in 'An Enemy of Fate'.

Connection: Translucent skin toxin — Translucent skin toxin
S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate
Timestamp: 32:37

S1E06 - The Cure

The radioactive isotope compound from 'The Cure' that caused heads to explode was used as a weapon against the Observers in 'An Enemy of Fate'.

Connection: Exploded head — Exploded head
S1E06 - The Cure
Timestamp: 05:10

S1E09 - The Dreamscape

The hallucinogenic drug from 'The Dreamscape' was used as a weapon against the Observers in 'An Enemy of Fate' to make them think they were being attacked by butterflies.

Connection: Hallucinated butterfly attack — Hallucinated butterfly attack
S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate
Timestamp: 32:26

S1E11 - Bound

The super-sized cold virus from 'Bound' was used as a weapon against the Observers in 'An Enemy of Fate'.

Connection: Super-sized cold virus — Super-sized cold virus
S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate
Timestamp: 32:04

S1E14 - Ability

The Fringe team used the skin-growth toxin from 'Ability' as a weapon against the Observers in 'An Enemy of Fate'.

Connection: Skin growth toxin — Skin growth toxin
S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate
Timestamp: 32:07

S1E19 - The Road Not Taken

The Observers read Broyles' phone call from the impressions his sound waves made on the glass in his car in 'An Enemy of Fate', like Peter did in to hear the phone call Nancy Lewis made in 'The Road Not Taken'.

Connection: Peter cutting out glass — Peter cutting out glass
S1E19 - The Road Not Taken
Timestamp: 32:38

Connection: Loyalist reading glass impressions — Loyalist reading glass impressions
S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate
Timestamp: 04:00

S2E09 - Snakehead

The creatures from 'Snakehead' were used as a weapon against the Observers and Loyalists in 'An Enemy of Fate'.

Connection: Snakehead creature — Snakehead creature
S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate
Timestamp: 32:58

S2E15 - Peter

The entire story of Fringe started in 'Peter' when Walter crossed worlds with a boy that wasn't his because he couldn't stand to let Peter die, and the entire story concluded in 'An Enemy of Fate' when Walter crossed worlds with a boy that wasn't his knowing he would never see Peter again.

Connection: Walter and Michael — Walter and Michael
S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate
Timestamp: 41:07

S2E17 - White Tulip

Walter sent Peter the white tulip note from 'White Tulip' in the mail and Peter received it in 'An Enemy of Fate' after the future was successfully altered.

Connection: White tulip — White tulip
S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate
Timestamp: 43:08

S3E16 - Os

The anti-gravity osmium bullets from 'Os' were used as a weapon against the Observers and Loyalists in 'An Enemy of Fate'.

Connection: Osmium bullet used — Osmium bullet used
S5E13 - An Enemy of Fate
Timestamp: 36:40

S4E14 - The End of All Things

SEPTEMBER in 'The End of All Things': "We [Observers] are one of countless possible futures for humanity."
In 'An Enemy of Fate' the Fringe team successfully changed the future so that Observers would never be created.

S5E05 - An Origin Story

In 'An Enemy of Fate' the Fringe team used a shipping lane to send Walter and Michael to the future, determined from the shipping manifest Astrid previously decoded in 'An Origin Story'.

S5E11 - The Boy Must Live

Michael stepped off the monorail in 'The Boy Must Live' so Olivia would have to get dosed with Cortexiphan to save him by universe-hopping. That remaining Cortexiphan is what allowed her to defeat Windmark in 'An Enemy of Fate'.
Michael played the music box from 'The Boy Must Live' for September after September got shot in 'An Enemy of Fate'.

Connection: Music box — Music box
S5E11 - The Boy Must Live
Timestamp: 16:21

S5E12 - Liberty

Michael stepped off the monorail in 'The Boy Must Live' so Olivia would have to get dosed with Cortexiphan to save him by universe-hopping in 'Liberty'. That remaining Cortexiphan is what allowed her to defeat Windmark in 'An Enemy of Fate'.