Mad Max Fury Road: The History Men Explained

Summary Discovering the mystery behind the "History Men" in Mad Max expands the franchise's complex, murky world.

The quote at the end of Fury Road prompts viewers to consider how heroes can better themselves by facing their enemies.

The importance of the History Men lies in their role as tattooed historians preserving the past to prevent future mistakes and warn against repeating history.

At the end of Mad Max: Fury Road the movie quotes the first of the "History Men," a detail that prompts the viewer to wonder who these figures are and what they do. The world of Mad Max is a murky, complex one that even franchise fans sometimes struggle to figure out. Thanks to the relentless pace of the movies and their surprisingly complicated, layered backstory, the Mad Max universe is one of the more difficult blockbuster series to decipher even before Furiosa: A Mad Max Story complicates things further.

For example, many viewers watching Mad Max: Fury Road for the first time may reasonably wonder who the little girl Max hallucinates in the opening scene is, or who the "First History Man” quoted at the close of the movie is. Neither of these questions is answered at any point in Fury Road’s mile-a-minute action, with the sequel never slowing down to explain itself before the credits roll. However, some digging into supplementary Mad Max reading materials sheds a little light on this Mad Max franchise mystery.

Related: Rats: Night Of Terror Turned Mad Max Into A (Bad) Monster Movie

Mad Max: Fury Road's History Man Quote & What It Means

Mad Max: Fury Road's History Men Quote Expands The World Of The Franchise

Close

The quote at the end of Fury Road asks the viewer “Where must we go, we who wander this wasteland, in search of our better selves?” In context, this quote is asking how a hero goes about bettering themselves and what steps they can take on this journey. For much of the movie’s runtime, Furiosa thinks she needs to return to the Green Place to save Immortan Joe’s captives. It is only after she discovers that her idyllic home has been destroyed that Furiosa learns she must face her enemies to better herself instead of running from them.

Furiosa learned that those who wander the wasteland can’t retreat into nostalgia, but must instead forge a new path to their future and find their better selves.

This quote from The History Men handily summarizes what Furiosa learns from her ordeal, namely that a utopian society isn’t built by fleeing from oppressors but by overthrowing them. Furiosa assumed she needed to go home to Fury Road’s Green Place, but she was bitterly heartbroken when she discovered the Green Place had become a swamp in her absence. She learned that those who wander the wasteland can’t retreat into nostalgia, but must instead forge a new path to their future and find their better selves. This quote applies to Furiosa but has broader implications.

Who The History Men Are In Mad Max

The History Men Are The Franchise's Tattooed Historians

The first of the History Men is quoted at the end of Mad Max: Fury Road despite the movie never explaining who they are onscreen. In the universe of Mad Max, the History Men are a group of historians who preserve the knowledge of the past by any means necessary and disseminate it among the population, with their most recognizable and defining method of spreading stories being tattooing historical records on their bodies. According to Mad Max: Fury Road’s tie-in comics, the History Men came into existence after Furiosa and Max’s triumphant takedown of Immortan Joe’s regime.

The group found an early antecedent in the heavily tattooed Miss Giddy, who taught Immortan Joe’s captive wives and Furiosa history via her body art. The reason that the History Men and Miss Giddy’s illustrative body art is so important in the series is that they both underline the need to retell history to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Fury Road’s fascist villain, Immortan Joe, is depicted as a zealot who discourages his followers from questioning him or looking into the past, and knowledge of history is a valuable commodity that can save the citizens of Mad Max’s post-apocalyptic wasteland setting.

There is an old maxim that states those who forget history are doomed to repeat it and, in this regard, it is telling that the first of the History Men arose after Immortan Joe's death.

Without history lessons from the History Men, nothing is stopping the Citadel from falling under another despot’s rhetorical spell in the future. There is an old maxim that states that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it and, in this regard, it is telling that the first of the History Men arose after Immortan Joe's death. Only time will tell whether the History Men are successful in warning the populace against repeating the mistakes that led to Immortan Joe’s rise to power, but Furiosa’s willingness to encourage the sharing of history proves that she could be a more benevolent ruler.

Why The History Men Are So Important In Mad Max

The Mad Max Movies Remined Viewers Of What Happens To Those Who Forget History

Close

After all, series creator George Miller noted that Furiosa has the potential to become a bloodthirsty ruler, not unlike Joe, and warned that Max’s bleak world left no room for idolizing its heroes. Max, Furiosa, and the rest of the franchise’s characters are flawed people, as proven by Aunt Entity’s moral ambiguity in Beyond Thunderdome. While the second movie in the franchise, The Road Warrior, may have cut Lord Humungus’ sympathetic connection to Max’s past, the History Men’s attempts to ensure that the violence of Fury Road is not repeated by the next generation proves that Mad Max’s universe is one of murky morality.

Mad Max himself went from being a rookie cop with a tragic backstory to a renegade drifter between the original movie and its first sequel, and by Beyond Thunderdome, he had become an almost mythical figure among the denizens of the Wasteland. In the franchise’s post-apocalyptic world, people are desperate for a hero to believe in and characters like Immortan Joe take advantage of this impulse. When the prequel is released, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’s Immortan Joe may even prove less formidable and the series might illustrate that fascists often come to power by gradually building their personality cult.

This allows the Mad Max series to comment on real-life socio-political issues despite its cartoonish villains and post-apocalyptic setting. George Miller’s original movie was intended to be a cautionary tale about how the world would respond to fuel shortages, while later movies in the series tackled issues like misogyny and resource hoarding. The History Men coming into existence after Furiosa and Max defeated Immortan Joe is an effective way for the series to indicate that the fascism that ruled the Citadel will have a hard time finding a foothold after the ending of the Mad Max sequel.

More: Mad Max: Fury Road Filming Location's Secret Meaning