This article discusses who kidnapped Amaya in The Snow Girl and as such contains huge plot spoilers for the first season.
The Snow Girl is a Spanish Netflix thriller based on the book La chica de nieve by Javier Castillo, though admittedly with some crucial changes. Here’s a plot summary from our review:
The plot of The Snow Girl revolves around the disappearance of five-year-old Amaya Martin from the annual Magi — or “Three Wise Men” — Parade in Malaga. During the bustle of the event she’s separated from her parents for just a moment, but long enough to be snatched by an unknown perpetrator. In the months and eventually years following this disappearance, Amaya’s case is investigated by both the police and the press, especially an unusually dogged journalist named Miren (a stoic Milena Smit).
Needless to say, the question of who kidnapped Amaya is one that is absolutely central to the show. It’s not really treated like a whodunit, though, and the identity of the kidnapper is revealed in the penultimate episode, which goes into detail about their motives.
Who kidnapped Amaya in The Snow Girl?
Amaya was kidnapped by Iris Molina and her husband Santiago. Iris was one of Amaya’s mother’s patients at a fertility clinic and was unable to have children of her own. After multiple unsuccessful attempts, she snatched Amaya on a whim.
Santiago wasn’t keen on taking Amaya, but he was very in love with his wife and didn’t want to hurt her more than she had already suffered in being unable to conceive her own child. Iris and Santiago kept Amaya locked up, and Iris renamed her Julia. She persistently claimed to be Amaya’s mother, gave her no access to the outside world, and kept her hidden when people came to the house. Over the years, Amaya eventually developed Stockholm syndrome and began to believe that she was Julia and that Iris was her mother.
When Santiago was killed in an accident on his way to confess, Iris only intensified Amaya’s isolation. Eventually, Miren put the pieces together and discovered what had happened. When she turned up at the property, though, Iris, fearing losing Amaya, drove away with her and tried to deliberately kill them both in a car crash. Iris was killed in the accident, but Amaya survived.
Amaya, though, still believed herself to be Julia, even after being reunited with her parents. The show never makes clear whether she regained her original identity or remembered her parents.
So, that’s who kidnapped Amaya in The Snow Girl. Do you have any thoughts on the show overall or the identity of the kidnapper? Let us know in the comments below.
