WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Pig, now in theaters.
Nicolas Cage's Pig ends on a very heartbreaking note as the chef he plays, Rob, isn't able to get back the pig that means the world to him. The villain who stole it, Darius (Adam Arkin), confirms that junkies botched the kidnapping and the animal actually died, which sent Rob back to his cottage, reluctantly moving on. However, there's a dark theory that plays into Darius' revenge that suggests the pig actually endured a most sadistic fate.
In the film, Darius finds out from his son, Amir, about Rob's truffle-hunting pig out in the Portland woods, and he decides that he wants it. It's because Rob cooked the perfect dinner for Darius and his wife years ago, giving them one happy night in a depressed marriage that eventually saw her attempt to take her life. She ends up on life support, with Darius refusing to take her off, and he now kidnaps the pig to get back at Rob for giving them hope.
But when Rob decides to cook Darius dinner -- the same meal Rob made for him and the wife years ago -- as Darius breaks down and spills the beans, this might not be an enlightening, redemptive moment, after all. It would appear that as Darius is eating the dish, the tears flow as he's remembering his wife, but it could be that Darius lied and is remembering what he did to the pig -- cooked and ate it.
Darius is a wealthy food connoisseur, after all, getting off on power trips over his son and his comatose wife. So it stands to reason he'd want to hurt Rob in the worst way possible. Thus, there's a chance he lied about the accident, not wanting to actually tell Rob that he ate the pig to symbolically devour the love and companionship Rob had for his own dead wife, Lori. Their relationship is the total opposite to Darius' so it'd make sense that he put all his malice, hatred, spite and jealousy into a meal of vengeance.
But now that Rob's cooking breaks his shield down, Darius feels sorry over what he did as he's finally relating to what Rob went through and is hurting for Rob, not himself. It's guilt, because while he despises his wife and Amir, Darius knows Rob and Lori are innocent, collateral damage and he desecrated their immortal bond in the worst way possible.
It'd fit Darius' character, because if the pig really died by accident, he would have told Rob in the first meeting. Instead, he says he still has it, which could have sent Rob off the edge and led to worse retaliation. It feels like Darius didn't know how to admit the truth as he was blindsided by Rob finding him through Amir. But now that they're in close proximity and sharing a vulnerable moment, he improvises a cover story, lying about devouring Rob's totem of love to show mercy and save his own skin.
See Nicolas Cage's dramatic turn in Pig, now playing in limited theatrical release and available on VOD.