Warning: Spoilers ahead for Severance
Fans of Severance have long speculated about the purpose of the goats discovered by Helly and Mark in Season 1. The latest episode finally provides an explanation: Lumon is raising the goats for ritualistic sacrifice, a dark revelation indeed.
Earlier in the season, the show introduced Gwendoline Christie as Lorne, the head of the Mammalians Nurturable department (though her exact title is unconfirmed). In Episode 3, Helly and Mark revisit the goat room and discover that the humans residing in the enclosed pasture are particularly wild “innies” fiercely protective of their goat herd.
Lorne reappears at the conclusion of Season 2, presenting a baby goat (named Emile) to Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), a prominent Kier follower who engages in confrontations with both Helena (Britt Lower) and Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) in the outside world.
“Mammalians Nurturable offers a gift,” Lorne announces, as the goat is brought forward.
“Does it possess verve?” Mr. Drummond inquires.
“Indeed, it does.”
“Wiles?”
“The most of its flock.”
“This creature will be interred with a beloved woman, its spirit guiding her to Kier’s door. Is it suited for this task?”
“It is.”
At this point, Mr. Drummond brandishes a firearm. Thus, the goats are sacrificed as part of Kier’s peculiar religious beliefs, seemingly embraced by the severed individuals within Mammalians Nurturable.
As with most revelations in Severance, the truth about the goats only deepens the mysteries surrounding Lumon, its strange cult, and its ultimate goals. Why must the goat be killed with a gun? Surely, there are less cruel methods of performing the sacrifice. Even if the Egans disregard animal welfare, there should be less risky ways to carry out the sacrifice in case, say, the innie handing over the gun decides to rebel.
Moreover, why is this sacrifice witnessed by only one person? Isn’t the purpose of ritual sacrifice to be a shared experience among religious followers, reinforcing their faith in the higher power? Furthermore, why would Lumon program a group of innies to develop strong attachments to baby goats they are forced to sacrifice? Wouldn’t this breed resentment and potentially trigger the very rebellion that is unfolding?
As Lorne prepares to kill the baby goat, she asks, “How many more must I give?” This suggests that numerous goats have been killed before. Does this imply that Lumon has been experimenting on many more people similar to Gemma? Or do they bury every innie who dies at Lumon with a goat? How many deaths have there been? Wouldn’t the disappearances of Lumon employees attract attention?
Regardless, this situation seems to distract Mr. Drummond from his primary objective: completing the Cold Harbor project. He should be focused on perfecting the science of severance by ensuring Gemma remains completely unaware of her real-world trauma while she dismantles a crib identical to the one she built for the child she and Mark never had. Successfully completing this experiment—which apparently holds the key to Lumon’s future—appears to be more crucial than overseeing a goat’s murder.
