I don't think he had time to tend to his wound since they were running from the avalanche.

@Movie Queen41 said:

I don't think he had time to tend to his wound since they were running from the avalanche.

True, but from the avalanche until they reaches the lake district, he would have had plenty of time to see to his wounds..

@UltimatePrime said:

At the end of the movie... Did Ceasar actually choose to die? I ask, because he (Ceasar) was wounded (beneath the arm)... but he kept it a secret (from all the other surviving apes) and did noT tend to the wound...

Eventually, he died because of it.

Did he do so, because Ceasar didn't want to live anymore? In my opinion, the death of his wife and elder son wore HEAVILY on him. He was in too much grief and pain because of their deaths... and maybe, that's why, he didn't choose to tend to his wounds and save himself at the very end... --sort of... --he welcomed his death... What do you think?

I think it was a great moment for him to pass. He had brought his people to the promished land of honey. Happy ending for him. But the way it happened is lazy writing imo.

He was indeed wounded and despite his cleverness and superior intellect he did not try and treat his wound.... odd. He still had his young son and not least his people. If anything he should know, they needed his leadership still. Having him die there and then is beautiful and I respect this, but to have him die from a wound no one noticed during their travels to this lake place is unbelievable. All they really had to do was to have him visibly wounded and fighting to stay alive until this very moment when his people are safe and free. This would have been all the more powerful. In fact; that he just dies alone there by the tree without his son etc. is a bit of a.... dare I say, dick move?

It was a fatal wound and he knew it, if they had a vet maybe he could have had a surgery.

@HAL 9010' said:

@Movie Queen41 said:

I don't think he had time to tend to his wound since they were running from the avalanche.

True, but from the avalanche until they reaches the lake district, he would have had plenty of time to see to his wounds..

They did have time to do it, but Caesar is a selfless leader, he didn't want anymore breaks until they made it to their location, he likely knew what would happen in the end, but was content with it, as they had made it to their haven.

@Wiziliz said:

@HAL 9010' said:

@Movie Queen41 said:

I don't think he had time to tend to his wound since they were running from the avalanche.

True, but from the avalanche until they reaches the lake district, he would have had plenty of time to see to his wounds..

They did have time to do it, but Caesar is a selfless leader, he didn't want anymore breaks until they made it to their location, he likely knew what would happen in the end, but was content with it, as they had made it to their haven.

Yes, very true. And this is my take as well. Though in truth it is not apparent until the very end that he was fatally wounded and this, I think, is not good story telling in this particular case. A bit of reflection and it seems a bit strange as this thread is evident off... this surprise death works in some stories but not in this one, imo.

If they would have him visibly wounded and fighting to stay alive until this very moment when his people are safe and free...all the time making us hope that perhaps, just perhaps here he could get some needed rest and care.... and then have him rest to never wake, while holding his sons hand and his peoples love... that would have been all the more powerful to the story and more respectful to his journey. Yet, they went for the surprise fatal wound and have him die more or less alone…

@HAL 9010' said: If they would have him visibly wounded and fighting to stay alive until this very moment when his people are safe and free...all the time making us hope that perhaps, just perhaps here he could get some needed rest and care.... and then have him rest to never wake, while holding his sons hand and his peoples love... that would have been all the more powerful to the story and more respectful to his journey. Yet, they went for the surprise fatal wound and have him die more or less alone…

He was hiding his pain on the journey to the desert, as he would. The three movies show him as someone who's very strong, and yeah, he was too selfless to want to hold the others up.

As for your last sentence, he died in the company of his best friend, which I think worked a lot better. His moments with Maurice have always been very nice, so for his final scene to be looking at the civilization and beside his best friend was really nice. The way it was done made for quite a hopeful and even happy ending.

I understand what you mean about showing him being fatally wounded before the very end, one shot lasting only a couple of seconds, with him showing pain would work, but we can imagine that happened off-screen.

My biggest issue with the film would have to be the lack of development/interactions for the silverback and Nova, making the death not hit quite as strong as it could've.

@Wiziliz said:

He was hiding his pain on the journey to the desert, as he would. The three movies show him as someone who's very strong, and yeah, he was too selfless to want to hold the others up.

As for your last sentence, he died in the company of his best friend, which I think worked a lot better. His moments with Maurice have always been very nice, so for his final scene to be looking at the civilization and beside his best friend was really nice. The way it was done made for quite a hopeful and even happy ending.

I understand what you mean about showing him being fatally wounded before the very end, one shot lasting only a couple of seconds, with him showing pain would work, but we can imagine that happened off-screen.

My biggest issue with the film would have to be the lack of development/interactions for the silverback and Nova, making the death not hit quite as strong as it could've.

I agree. This end was by far my favorite moment of the movie and I especially liked how this concluded the story arc and sort of set it up for the original "Planet of The Apes (1968)".

However, they kept his mortal wound hidden to us too. And this in a way goes against your own reiteration above. No ? Indeed, we saw he got terribly shot, but hereafter he climbed trees like a king etc... and at least from my point of viewing I did not think so much about this wound hereafter. And hey, Apes are some bad motherfuckers so why wouldn’t he be able to brush it off?? and then they unravel this fatal situation in the very end and to not only his best friend but also to us the viewer. So there is not much reason or even opportunity for us to "imagine it happened off screen"... as we do not know until it is sort of too late to imagine this... look, all I am essentially saying is that for the story to shine more, and to really show your own description above as well, we the viewers at the very least should have been in the know.… the movie has many poor story telling mistakes imo, and this is really a very minor one and in a scene that is otherwise (or not otherwise) beautiful... however, if not on the Internet where else can I bitch about this to? :)

I think he was far too concentrated on getting his apes as far away from the rest of humanity as possible.