What Archie’s Illness Is In Leave The World Behind (& What Caused It)

WARNING! This article contains spoilers for Leave the World Behind!

As Leave the World Behind’s disaster progresses, Archie is afflicted with a mysterious illness of even more puzzling origins. Netflix’s adaptation of the book Leave the World Behind sees two families hide in a beachside New York house while the nation experiences a series of inexplicable crises. After losing all forms of communication and transportation, Amanda (Julia Roberts), Clay (Ethan Hawke), and their children Archie (Charlie Evans) and Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) must stay in their rental house with the owners, G.H. (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la Herrold) until it’s over. However, what seemingly begins as a cyberattack worsens with other strange occurrences, such as falling pamphlets, animal migrations, sound wave attacks, bombings, and sudden illnesses.

Leave the World Behind takes another turn when a series of painfully loud noises and sound attacks are sent through the air, with 16-year-old Archie soon developing a fever. When he wakes up the next morning, Archie’s teeth begin to fall out and he later vomits blood. The strange onset of symptoms and unclear origins lead the families into a frenzy of trying to find Archie treatment, and without any ways to communicate with the outside world or see a doctor, Leave the World Behind’s characters are left in the dark about his condition. While Danny (Kevin Bacon) ultimately gives Archie life-saving medicine, the theories around his sickness make it an especially cryptic part of the movie’s disaster.

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Archie’s Illness Is Caused By The Sound Wave Attacks & His Mysterious Bug Bite

The most likely explanation of Archie’s sudden illness is that it was part of a biological warfare tactic, brought on by the deafening sound attacks and a curious bug bite in the woods. At the end of Leave the World Behind, G.H. discloses the theory that the disaster is the result of a multistep program and coup designed to destroy America from within. Part of this involved physical attacks on the citizens, which included using sound warfare. Danny referenced an event in Cuba involving microwave weapons, where radiation that was beamed out through sound caused some people to lose their teeth. This seems to be the most likely explanation for Archie’s mysterious illness, but it isn’t the only theory posited by the movie.

After Archie explains that he was bitten by a bug in the woods, G.H. suggests that he could have Lyme disease. The very real disease, spread by tick bites, is notable for its strange, varying, and largely misunderstood symptoms. However, while Lyme disease has been reported as having connections to dental health associated with the bacteria being able to live in the dentin of teeth, it’s not known to cause teeth to fall out. Vomiting blood also isn’t a widely reported symptom, so it’s highly unlikely that Archie’s illness can actually be explained by Lyme disease. Still, Archie could have been bitten by a different bug potentially utilized in the disaster’s biological warfare, thus partially causing his symptoms.

Archie’s Mysterious Sickness Ties Into Leave The World Behind’s Deeper Themes

The meaning of Archie’s illness directly ties into Leave the World Behind’s themes of fear and panic in the eye of uncertainty, danger, and the unknown that lies ahead. According to director Sam Esmail, Archie’s sickness is a manifestation of the nightmarish environment and world that the Sandford and Scott families now find themselves in. The characters are already frightened with no understanding of what is happening around them, and introducing the inexplicable, life-threatening illness to a 16-year-old only exacerbates these fears. The families are completely in the dark regarding the illness’s origins, how to treat it, and whether it could happen to the rest of them, with the unknown physical ailment symbolically reflecting Leave the World Behind‘s unpredictable nightmare happening around them.